NAB, Congress react to merger approval; XM and Sirius let haters hate, watch money pile up
By Nilay Patel 
posted March 24th 2008 7:27PM
posted March 24th 2008 7:27PM
Well, it's only been a couple hours since the DOJ officially approved the XM / Sirius merger, and while we're a little surprised at how low-profile the two satellite radio services are being about the decision, there's nothing at all shocking about NAB's reaction -- the organization says it's "astonished," and that the Justice Department's decision to "propose granting a monopoly" to the two companies is "breathtaking." Yeah, they're not happy. Same goes for various members of Congress: Rep. Ed Markey, head of the House telecom subcommittee, expressed his disappointment that "the Bush administration has apparently never seen a telecommunications merger it didn't like," and suggested FCC approval would have to come with strict conditions, while Sen. Herb Kohl flatly said the deal would "create a satellite radio monopoly" and encouraged the FCC to block it. That's a lot of haterade -- but XM and Sirius are apparently too busy looking deeply into each other's eyes as their respective stock prices soar, because the only post-decision statement either company has made is a rehash of a months-old list of organizations and people that support the merger. Ah, young love -- so innocent, so oblivious.Read - NAB statement
Read - Bloomberg article with Congressional reaction
Read - XM list of supporters
Hoo Hoo .... I invented mergers. Tell 'em Fred.
It's a glorious day for us dual-subscribers of both. Ok, there probably aren't many of us.
The reason Mel and Co. are being so low-key?? Not over until FCC signs off.
MLB, Stern, NFL, Big 10, music - all in 1 place! Love it.
Awesome title
LOL, this is why I love reading Engadget.
The title made me crack up... tho they missed a "the" between watch and money i think..
I have my iGoogle to show Engadget, PCMAG, slashdot, and some phone article titles but I find Engadget the most enjoyable.
Good news for XM and Sirius. They just can't survive competing against each other.
F the NAB!!
I just cancelled my XM subscription...go figure. I suppose I'll wait til we see what becomes of this...or...what this becomes.
O&A always win in the end.
Ron & Fez, noon to 3, XM 202
I mean, I hate the whole O&A vs. Stern thing, it's annoying because it's all preference and no one is rational about it BUT what do you mean by they *always* win in the end? I don't know a lot about them, but what are examples of this?
If the NAB don't like it then they can start their own satellite radio company...oh, wait...
I'm wondering what is going to happen to the Auto manufacturers who have built in XM or Sirus into their cars like Volvos and Subaraus. Hopefully the older model radios will pick up whatever the hell they decide to broadcast on now.
Damn. So much for competition. I hope that XM emerges as the real provider here, because I can't stomach how terrible Sirius service is. Sirius has all those crappy "DJ's" on their channels inbetween songs, in fact once I was listening and 15 minutes, 15 MINUTES, was nothing but talk between the DJs. It was so bad I turned back to terrestrial channels.
XM however has nothing but music. No shitty DJs.
no xm has dj's too. They just rarely don't talk that much, usually it's a blurb every 6 songs or so.
yes I much prefer music being played by robots.. damn those DJ's.. just give me a constant repeat of the top 40 songs in the US and I'll continue to vote for Bush and shop at Wal-mart.
WWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I never understood how the only two companies in this market merging in order to prevent themselves from individually folding is a monopoly? What competition does this hurt? Siriusly?
Isnt owning 50 radio atations a monopoloy, especially if they are politically motivated or something?
The FCC should look at themselves, and radio station owners.. like Rupert.
I love that a lot of people don't see the irony in the NAB and ClearChannel calling this a "monopoly".. The only reason they're concerned at all is that they fear the competition from a profitable company serving a better product. If they weren't competing, they wouldn't care..
People actually pay for radio?
That's why I have an MP3/MP4 player. There's nothing on satellite radio that I can't get on my PMP for free.
Sports? Don't care about them. News? Free in podcasts. Howard Stern? Sorry, I'm too busy listening to real entertainment to care about listening strippers on a Sybian OVER THE RADIO.
There's no reason I'd pay for radio. None. Especially since it's not even advertisement-free.
They'd have to pay ME to listen to XM/Sirius for any length of time.
Does it really matter. I mean, satellite radio really isn't that popular is it?