The XM-Sirius Merger has been...............
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:31 am
........Approved by a 3-2 vote
Sirius-XM Merger Gains Approval of FCC Majority, WSJ Reports
By Todd Shield
July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. has won the approval of a majority of Federal Communications Commission members, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Republican Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate will cast the deciding vote in exchange for an agreement that settles enforcement issues involving the companies and a $20 million fine, the Journal said on its Web site, citing an FCC official close to the deal. A 2-2 deadlock on the panel left the fate of the $3.5 billion deal in her hands.
The FCC is the last regulatory obstacle to the all-stock combination. Two Republican commissioners, Chairman Kevin Martin and Robert McDowell, have already backed the merger. Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, who voted against it today, said in an e- mailed statement the combination would create ``a monopoly with window dressing.'' Fellow Democrat Michael Copps also voted no.
``Commissioner Adelstein would only cast a dissenting vote once it was fairly clear that Commissioner Tate would support the deal,'' Paul Gallant, a former FCC official and Washington- based analyst with Stanford Washington Research Group, said in an interview. He continues to predict approval.
Commissioners, who face no deadline for a decision, vote electronically at the time of their choosing.
Traditional radio companies led by the National Association of Broadcasters oppose the merger, saying it will create a harmful monopoly. Sirius and XM, the only two pay-radio companies, told regulators their union would bring consumers more programming at a lower cost.
Price Freeze
The companies agreed to freeze prices for three years, to sell channels in smaller packages and to allocate 8 percent of their channels for use by educational and minority broadcasters.
Antitrust authorities at the U.S. Justice Department cleared the deal in March, saying competition from music sources including MP3 players and traditional radio would keep the combined company from raising prices.
Sirius, based in New York, gained 8 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $2.46 at 3:04 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and had declined 21 percent this year before today. XM, based in Washington, rose 80 cents, or 8.9 percent, to $9.62 and was down 26 percent.
Sirius is offering 4.6 of its shares for each of XM's. The companies first proposed the combination in February 2007.
Adelstein had sought a six-year price freeze, and for the companies to allocate 25 percent of their spectrum for educational and minority broadcasters. He also wanted requirements that the radios be capable of tuning into both services as well as terrestrial broadcasters' digital channels.
``I was hoping to forge a bipartisan solution that would offer consumers more diversity in programming, better price protection, greater choices among innovative devices and real competition with digital radio,'' Adelstein said in his statement. ``Instead, it appears they're going to get a monopoly with window dressing.''
FCC spokesman Robert Kenny said the agency had no comment on Adelstein's vote.
To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home
http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=93609
Sirius-XM Merger Gains Approval of FCC Majority, WSJ Reports
By Todd Shield
July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. has won the approval of a majority of Federal Communications Commission members, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Republican Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate will cast the deciding vote in exchange for an agreement that settles enforcement issues involving the companies and a $20 million fine, the Journal said on its Web site, citing an FCC official close to the deal. A 2-2 deadlock on the panel left the fate of the $3.5 billion deal in her hands.
The FCC is the last regulatory obstacle to the all-stock combination. Two Republican commissioners, Chairman Kevin Martin and Robert McDowell, have already backed the merger. Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, who voted against it today, said in an e- mailed statement the combination would create ``a monopoly with window dressing.'' Fellow Democrat Michael Copps also voted no.
``Commissioner Adelstein would only cast a dissenting vote once it was fairly clear that Commissioner Tate would support the deal,'' Paul Gallant, a former FCC official and Washington- based analyst with Stanford Washington Research Group, said in an interview. He continues to predict approval.
Commissioners, who face no deadline for a decision, vote electronically at the time of their choosing.
Traditional radio companies led by the National Association of Broadcasters oppose the merger, saying it will create a harmful monopoly. Sirius and XM, the only two pay-radio companies, told regulators their union would bring consumers more programming at a lower cost.
Price Freeze
The companies agreed to freeze prices for three years, to sell channels in smaller packages and to allocate 8 percent of their channels for use by educational and minority broadcasters.
Antitrust authorities at the U.S. Justice Department cleared the deal in March, saying competition from music sources including MP3 players and traditional radio would keep the combined company from raising prices.
Sirius, based in New York, gained 8 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $2.46 at 3:04 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and had declined 21 percent this year before today. XM, based in Washington, rose 80 cents, or 8.9 percent, to $9.62 and was down 26 percent.
Sirius is offering 4.6 of its shares for each of XM's. The companies first proposed the combination in February 2007.
Adelstein had sought a six-year price freeze, and for the companies to allocate 25 percent of their spectrum for educational and minority broadcasters. He also wanted requirements that the radios be capable of tuning into both services as well as terrestrial broadcasters' digital channels.
``I was hoping to forge a bipartisan solution that would offer consumers more diversity in programming, better price protection, greater choices among innovative devices and real competition with digital radio,'' Adelstein said in his statement. ``Instead, it appears they're going to get a monopoly with window dressing.''
FCC spokesman Robert Kenny said the agency had no comment on Adelstein's vote.
To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home
http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=93609
It took awhile to the story posted, cause I've known since Sat. . . 
