DOJ Finally Approves XM-Sirius Merger

from the took-'em-long-enough dept

Mon, Mar 24th 2008 1:42pm — Mike Masnick

It only took over a year of ridiculous protests from traditional radio stations, but the Justice Department has finally decided that XM and Sirius can merge without creating a monopoly. It will be interesting to see if the NAB's own lobbying efforts helped disprove its point. The NAB, representing terrestrial radio stations argued vehemently that if XM and Sirius merged, it would create a "monopoly." The only problem with that statement is that if that were the case, it would mean that terrestrial radio wasn't competing in the same market. And, if that were true, why would the NAB care? So, by arguing so vehemently against the merger, it effectively showed what we all knew: terrestrial radio and satellite radio compete in the same market. Of course, the merger isn't a done deal yet, as the FCC still needs to weigh in. But given the amount of time it has already taken for the DoJ to make its decision, you would hope that the FCC was at least close to being done with its review as well. Update: No surprise here, the NAB is "astonished" by the decision.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: fcc, justice department, mergers, nab, radio, satellite radio, terrestrial radio
Companies: sirius, xm

5 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Steve R. (profile), 24 Mar 2008 @ 1:50pm

About Time
Finally.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jeremy, 24 Mar 2008 @ 2:43pm

The sad thing is that the FCC probably hasn't even started their review of it yet. They wouldn't want to go through the process of starting a review before the DOJ approved it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Another Jeremy, 24 Mar 2008 @ 10:06pm
  
  Re:
  @ Jeremy, the FCC and DOJ have been coordinating their efforts. Chairman Martin has also told his staff to prepare drafts pertaining to the merger.
  
  Martin again, has also gave inaccurate timelines for a merger decision, but that I'm sure was inaccurate because the DOJ hadn't ruled yet and he was just trying to give some transparency.
  
  Just saying...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2008 @ 2:56pm

No problem to let two giant oil companies Exxon and Mobil merge and let them post record breaking profits every quarter. That pads a lot of politicians pockets. But two small money losing satellite companies, well no sir not while the NAB is padding the pockets of so many politicians.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Realist, 24 Mar 2008 @ 4:28pm
  
  Re:
  You're right, it is all about the money. They have to make sure the fat cats get fatter.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]