Friday, March 28,2008 @ 3:10pm
XM, Sirius staff meet with FCC to push merger
XM and Sirius are putting pressure on the Federal Communications Commission for a quick merger approval, legal documents show. A filing submitted to the FCC by an XM lawyer shows that counsel for both XM and Sirius visited the FCC on Wednesday, and discussed matters not only with chairman Kevin Martin, but his chief of staff and senior legal advisor. The filing was required by FCC regulations, and is likely meant to ensure that all lobbying efforts are above-board.
Noted explicitly in the document is that XM and Sirius want "prompt approval of the pending merger," particularly "following the the statement by the Department of Justice." The Department lent its seal of approval to the merger on Monday, meaning that the FCC is currently the only obstacle to a deal which would leave a single satellite radio entity in the United States. Despite this, accusations of monopoly creation have been dismissed.
Included with the filing is a proposed list of Sirius pricing plans, which as rumored would give an option of different mixes of Sirius stations, or hybrid collections of Sirius and XM content.