More Merger Questions

[JohnnyElectron]

It was reported today that XM p*ssed-away $30 million dollars with this merger crap - that's money that would have really helped the bottom line!

I was surprised to see the 2-month extension, as all bets were to be off by the 1st of March!

 

[skyrocker]

It was reported today that XM p*ssed-away $30 million dollars with this merger crap

I don't know where you get your information, J-Tron, but should we consider your disclosure an excuse
to see who can come closest to guessing the amount p*ssed away during the next
extended two months? Winner gets an old 70s on 7 playlist.

 

[DashRiprock]

The two companies were awarded spectrum just like satellite TV. The feds said they could not merge because there must always be competition within the satellite service. Competition from other places and the 'a la carte' thing are feeble PR efforts.

This is partially true... but not exactly. The companies weren't "awarded" the spectrum... their bids were the winning bids at auction -- CD Radio and American Mobile Satellite collectively paid the FCC well over $170 million for the use and licensing of this spectrum. Money talks these days, especially on auctioned spectrum.

Furthermore, the "condition" in the DARS license that prevents "one license holder from holding both DARS licenses" was not an adopted rule of the FCC, nor was it a condition of license. It was a policy statement mentioned in the Report & Order for DARS. XM/Sirius challenged the wording of the "policy" and the FCC realized this, so they opened an NPRM on the request. Further, the policy was predicated on the market definition for DARS -- as it was defined in 1997; here in 2008, if the market for DARS is redefined, then that policy statement quite likely becomes moot. As it turns out, the market for DARS is smaller than anticipate and likely not big enough to support 2 satellite providers.

Clarismae, you appear to be an insider or at least a pro-merger person that spent a great deal of time researching the legal fine points to address anti-merger posts. Here are my questions for you:

I believe that it was intent of the rule/statement/order/or whatever to maintain competition within the service. How is this proposed merger different from the Dish/DirecTV deal that was denied?

If the deal is allowed to take place, who is in charge?

I selected XM because I preferred their choices. If the deal is allowed to take place, which XM channels will be dropped?

 

[DashRiprock]

Clarismae?

..... crickets ......

Clarismae?

 

[vchimpanzee]

I haven't subscribed yet but any XM without 4 and 78 I won't bother with.

I have a question: if the merged company is declared a monopoly, who will the competitor be? Is there someone out their who has been waiting to find out if they can sell their music to the public?

 

[DashRiprock]

It looks like the deal is getting serious scrutiny by the elected officials that have to answer to voters. One interesting condition would force the merged company to squeeze all its programming into 1/2 of the allotted spectrum to allow for a potential new player in satrad to come forward in the future. Maybe they really care about consumers, or the lobbyists for "special interest groups" have their ear. Check it out.

Link:
http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=142275&pt=todaysnews

Excerpt:
The Senators call their requests "minimal conditions" that are "necessary to protect the public interest" if XM and Sirius are allowed to merge.