More Openers: Sirius-XM Merger
Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said at the House Commerce Committee panel hearing that he is skeptical of the proposed merger between satellite radio providers XM and Sirius. "Do we throw anything that makes noise into the world of competition so that we don’t define this merger as a monopoly?" he asked. Some have argued that Internet radio, iPods and terrestrial radio provide plenty of competition in the audio entertainment marketplace.
Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., was "not sure that Congress has a distinct role" in the actual merger approval. "Perhaps our responsibility is more into looking at whether this merger will provide greater localism on a combined service or not," he said. Another question is whether the local, differentiated programming on satellite radio will undermine free, over-the-air radio.
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., noted the radio market is "not easy to define." While there may be plenty of services that compete for listeners' ears, he is worried that the proposed Sirius-XM union could "start us down a slippery slope" of approving mergers by other players like satellite television providers EchoStar and DirecTV. The FCC denied a request by those two companies to merge several years ago.
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