XM/Sirius: All Eyes On FCC
The FCC is expected to consider the pending merger between Sirius Satellite Radio and rival XM -- and approve it with conditions by May 1 or soon thereafter, Medley Global Advisors said in an e-mail update Tuesday. The Justice Department OK'd the pairing on Monday after more than a year-long review.
While FCC Chairman Kevin Martin may try to circulate an order seeking approval of the transaction in the weeks ahead, analysts said Congress and all five FCC commissioners maintain drastically different views on merger approval orders and the broader issue of media consolidation.
Martin's two Republican colleagues -- Deborah Taylor Tate and Robert McDowell -- are "likely to insist that no conditions be placed" on the deal but one exception may involve a condition supported by one or both to extend the FCC's indecency rules to the merged entity to ensure that edgy content is kept in check, Medley said.
The FCC's two Democrats -- Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps -- "may be inclined to support meaningful behavioral safeguards to reduce the potential for anticompetitive harms to occur given concerns raised by some ratepayer groups," analysts added. "It will be no easy task to strike this balancing act."
Possible conditions, according to the analysts, include:
- The a la carte/tiered programming package option
- Price caps (for three to five years)
- Spectrum spin-offs to noncommercial and minority programmers
- Mandatory device interoperability
- Prohibition on sole-source contracts on devices
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