James Delahunty
16 Dec 2007 8:27
According to a statement issued by Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, the proposed purchase of XM by Sirius has received support from three U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers. Connie Mack of Florida (Rep), Joe Baca of California (Dem) and Bob Filner of California (Dem) have come out to support the merger according to the statement. The deal is currently being evaluated by the Justice Department which is trying to predict what such a merger would mean for competition.
Since XM and Sirius are the two only Satellite Radio providers in the United States, licensed 10 years ago by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), the proposed merger sparked alarm and criticism from all sides because it would kill competition between the two. However, XM and Sirius claim that competition has changed dramatically in a decade, and Satellite Radio itself has to compete with other technologies such as HD Radio and even MP3 players.
General Motors Corp has also thrown support behind the merger. The company installs XM Radio equipment into some of the its cars. It has urged the FCC to avoid putting conditions on the deal.
Source:
Reuters