Sirius and XM Get To Merge

It took the Gov't a long time to figure out that satellite radio was not a monopoly; that it had other competition and the NAB knew it all along. While the merger was waiting to go through, it subsequently put Sirius and XM people on hold in their careers until things fell into place. I didn't like how it held up two profitable companies in limbo.

But just as the wait for approval was painstakingly slow, the vote came down to the wire as well.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the buyout, with the tiebreaker coming Friday night from Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate.

That is the most stand out sticking point to the whole storyline. Howard Stern, a subculture pop icon, railed against Pres. Bush for the ongoing war, but now he has to eat crow that the party lines have been drawn.

The approval was a major blow for the land-based radio industry, which lobbied hard against the buyout. It was also opposed by consumer groups, various members of Congress and state attorneys general, all of whom argued a satellite radio merger would hurt consumers and was not in the public interest.

I currently own a Sirius Starmate and Boombox and listen to it a lot in the late night hours. My dad just bought a car with XM in it. So, as a sports fan, I would really love to get to hear all the sports on one system soon.

I will keep up on how they will amalgamate the stations into one product.