View this article at: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/06/05/fcc.acts.soon.on.sirius.xm/

Thursday, Jun 05, 2008 1:30pm

FCC chief: will move "soon"...

Federal Communications Commission chief Kevin Martin on Thursday told CNBC that his agency is nearing approval of the long-delayed Sirius and XM merger. While declining to give a timetable for any decision, Martin says the FCC hopes to make its choice "soon" and that the two satellite radio providers have agreed to make changes to their price structure to clear legal hurdles, including an option for subscribers to order individual channels rather than complete bundles and to specifically exclude channels with objectionable content.

One of the chief obstacles in approving the merger is a rule in FCC licensing that would bar the union, Martin says, requiring that the FCC make an exception if it's willing to approve the merger.

The FCC chairman has increasingly spoken out on the merger and most recently said he believes an approval could come