XM-Sirius Radio Merger
Keith Sharfram at Truth on the Market twice blogged about a possible XM-Siruis merger (here and here). Initially, he thought that the merger would not (or at least should not) face significant antitrust scrutiny (my paraphrasing, btw). Later, he acknowledged that if the merger resulted in higher prices, “then there is more of an antitrust issue here than we thought.”
It turns out that the discussion may be moot:
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin Martin, said yesterday that the two satellite radio companies, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio Holdings, would not win approval of a merger under current regulatory rules. A ban on a single owner for both satellite services was written into the regulations that authorized the two nationwide licenses, Mr. Martin said after an F.C.C. meeting. “There is a prohibition on one entity owning both of these businesses,” he said in response to a question.
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