Urban Unrest

23 June 2007 | Business | Ernesto Aguilar

Congress to Executives on Sirius/XM Merger: Just Say No
Washington - Jun 18, 2007 - A group of 72 congressmen signed a letter that was sent to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majors. The focus of the letter states that the proposed XM/Sirius transaction would harm consumers. The prime authors of the letter are Representatives Gene Green (D-TX) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI).

The letter begins by repeating the existing FCC Rules that stipulate that one entity could not own both satellite radio licenses. From there, the letter states many of the already publicized arguments relating to antitrust issues, robust competition of two providers and faults of both providers relating to FCC rules.

Citing concerns about consumer protection and noting both companies’ previous compliance issues with FCC regulations, the letter calls on the FCC, the DOJ, and the FTC to “protect consumers, and protect competition by denying the merger.”

Legislators lending their support to the effort to deny the requested union include a broad cross-section of US representatives from both sides of the aisle and political spectrum, including well-known names such as former House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL) and Liberal Presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).

Read the letter that is posted on Sensenbrenner’s website. The FCC is expected to make its ruling on the case before the end of 2007.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!