I covered Sen. Dorgan (D-ND) in an earlier post "Larry, Curley and Moe" (Wed. 3/12/08) that commented on the DOT Cross-Border/Mexico hearings. The Sirius/XM merger has been approved by the Dept. of Justice, but has yet to get final approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This merger is long overdue in many folks minds, but this is what Sen. Dorgan said on April 18th: "The Department of Justice has arrived at an illogical conclusion. This merger is contrary to the public interest. Satellite service offers a great deal more than terrestrial broadcast radio. Consolidation in that sector by companies (like Clear Channel) has managed to homogenize and decay free over-the-air radio. The same could happen to satellite service when they are no longer forced to compete with each other." The link to the whole story is: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080422-senator-clear-channel-dispute-doj-logic-on-xm-sirius-merger.html Also, see my FCC Sirius/XM Merger posting. (Mon. 12/07/07). Bottom line is, I'm in favor of the merger, but I respect Sen. Dorgan and his comments deserve some consideration.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sirius/XM Merger Update...
I covered Sen. Dorgan (D-ND) in an earlier post "Larry, Curley and Moe" (Wed. 3/12/08) that commented on the DOT Cross-Border/Mexico hearings. The Sirius/XM merger has been approved by the Dept. of Justice, but has yet to get final approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This merger is long overdue in many folks minds, but this is what Sen. Dorgan said on April 18th: "The Department of Justice has arrived at an illogical conclusion. This merger is contrary to the public interest. Satellite service offers a great deal more than terrestrial broadcast radio. Consolidation in that sector by companies (like Clear Channel) has managed to homogenize and decay free over-the-air radio. The same could happen to satellite service when they are no longer forced to compete with each other." The link to the whole story is: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080422-senator-clear-channel-dispute-doj-logic-on-xm-sirius-merger.html Also, see my FCC Sirius/XM Merger posting. (Mon. 12/07/07). Bottom line is, I'm in favor of the merger, but I respect Sen. Dorgan and his comments deserve some consideration.
