This article has 12 comments:

Register or Login to rate comments »
•  
  

  • User 160779
  • 1 Comment

  Mar 06 07:14 AM
  Why wont they let Sirius and XP merge????? LONG LIVE HOWARD, for someone to have that much influence on radio is great...as SOON as he left regular radio...they start calling FREE FM LOL What a joke.
  DO they think we have no brains? Just like when Howard was on Fm, if you like it ,you listen, you don't ..THEN DON'T LISTEN ! Stupid religious idiots!!
  Let them merge, I wanna hear Baseball on my sirius!!!

  Reply
•  
  

  • scotty48
  • 10 Comments

  Mar 06 12:34 PM
  Georgetown Partners have sunk to a new low. I never thought the race card would be pulled involving satellite radio. This is absurd. They need to be held accountable for being a part of this delay such as stock losses to investors and depriving the subscriber of lower monthly cost.

  Reply
•  
  

  • stinkaroo
  • 55 Comments

  Mar 06 12:34 PM
  BOB-A-BOEY...BOB-A-BOE...
  
  To answer your question in your first sentence; they won't let them merge because it will cost them money. They won't make a decision because they cant justify blocking the merger. "They" are a bunch of crooks... "They" are; ClearChannel, NBC, CBS, FCC and our wonderfully paid for politicians that make up the rules as they go...kind of like how my 6 year old always changes the rules when he begins to realize he can't win... only difference is that my 6 year old has character, he just doesn't know better yet.

  Reply
•  
  

  • simpsonic
  • 9 Comments
  • My Website

  Mar 06 02:30 PM
  Buy, buy, buy!! It's the bottom. With 99.9% aboard, it's a done deal! They are just dotting their i's and crossing their t's. The public has spoken and it's time to move on.

  Reply
•  
  

  • stinkaroo
  • 55 Comments

  Mar 06 02:42 PM
  What do you mean by 99.9% aboard? I haven't heard that. I keep hearing the same run-around from the same talking heads. They restated just this week that they still expect to make a decision by q1's end but they still see it as a stretch for approval. The kicker is that XM will likely be out of business within a year or so if the merger doesn't go through, which will leave only one anyway! So what the Heck is taking the DOJ so long? Greed!!!!!!!

  Reply
•  
  

  • Big Cam
  • 1 Comment

  Mar 06 02:57 PM
  Why is regular radio fighting this if there is no competition??? Our public servants are own my lobbist.

  Reply
•  
  

  • User 161304
  • 2 Comments

  Mar 07 02:59 AM
  I ask how can satillite radio be a monoply, when their are billions of dollars more in terrestrial broadcasting groups. In my opinion a monoply is when someone controlls every segment of an entire industry, In this case radio broadcasting. In my opinion if this deal between Xm and Sirius isn't allowed to go through it will be enough to bankrupt millions of shareholders, destroy jobs, and bankrupt two corporations. As we speak traditional radio stations are trying to make every radio other then HD Radio obsolete. Xm and Sirius have lost billions of dollars since their start, in order for both corporations to upgrade into HD format they are going to have billions of dollars in costs just for this matter.
  If the government doesn't allow this with restrictions it will be enough to bankrupt two corporations. Every investor might as well have invested into Enron. I belive this should be allowed with certain limitaions and restrictions, for one they cannot jack up their prices, and they cannot attempt to buy out other broadcasting groups.
  Currently Clear Channel Communications (ccu) has a market capitalization of 16,970,000,000 Billion dollars. Citadel Broadcasting (csl) has a market capitalization of 353,300,000 Million, and Cumulus media Inc has a market capitalization of 244,560,000 million. The only way that this should be considered as a monoply is if Sirius, and Xm owned and operated every broadcasting group. Terrestrial radio will never go bankrupt as a business because millions of dollars are spent each year on advertizing by major corporations.
  

  Reply
•  
  

  • stinkaroo
  • 55 Comments

  Mar 07 08:10 AM
  You are right, it won't be a monopoly. Both companies have offered proposals that would restrict them from jacking up prices AND they would offer ala carte programming for potential customers that don't want the entire product... say someone just wants to hear Howard Stern, they can purchase just that for far less than the current 13/mo. These lawmakers that state they are trying to protect the consumer are either idiots or they think we are idiots. They not only are bankrupting two companies, but they are also risking the consumers investments in those companies. I listened to that moron from the DOJ on Jim Cramer the other day (can't remember his name) and he went on and on about how Sirius/XM would be able to jack up the prices after the merger when in fact they would not... according to the proposal. Also, how would jacking up the prices attract subscibers? He also compared the merger to DirecTV/Dish a couple of years ago which showed how dumb that moron is. DirecTV/Dish are unique in that they both offer the same programming and their core demographic are people who live remotely and don't have a choice of cable providers. Sirius and XM offer completely different programming and every single customer of thiers has a choice of terrestrial or sattelite radio. In any case, make a decision so we can all move on with life! Shame on the DOJ!! This is a disgrace... an outrage!

  Reply
•  
  

  • AZHowardFan
  • 1 Comment

  Mar 07 06:36 PM
  Like Howard Stern said yesterday, it's the Al Sharpton Shakedown...

  Reply
•  
  

  • OkThen
  • 1 Comment

  Mar 08 03:06 AM
  I agree with these comments. Our government has sunk to a new low in stretching out this decision. They have shown no backbone, just floated in the wind. It is a disgrace that this merger hasn't gone through yet. I am an XM customer, and every other Satellite Radio customer I have ever talked to about this supports the merger. We could go on and on about this not being a monopoly, about the merged company offering ala carte channel selection, and about more customer choice. Unfortunately there are a few egocentric and small minded lawmakers that can't make a decision because of their conflicts of interests with NAB and ClearChannel.
  
  This is TERRIBLE, and a Disgrace to American Business.
  
  
  

  Reply
•  
  

  • Roxieanne
  • 29 Comments

  Mar 11 05:05 PM
  As Scotty noted above Georgetown Partners and Jessie Jackson and his associates have pulled out the diversity, race card while playing politics with this business merger.
  
  They should receive none---zero--zilch--of the spectrum.
  
  Instead, they should be required to reimburse the government and taxpayers for the cost of these meetings , pay reparations to the stockholders for the hold up they have caused with this business merger to both the company and to the stockholders.
  
  As you wrote in your article----- "Perhaps the reason is that Georgetown Partners has now had an incredible 23 meetings with the FCC, and an astounding 18 meetings in 45 business days in 2008".
  
  
  

  Reply
•  
  

  • po'd in Plano
  • 15 Comments

  May 12 08:58 PM
  The delay in his merger approval smacks of double-dealing and bass ackwards capitalism. Someone could probably tell me, but I doubt the following mergers received such a lengthy "debate" by the FCC: Time-Warner & AOL, Exxon & Mobil, Texaco & Chevron. Repeat after me FCC commissioners: 2 money-losing companies do not = 1 great monolith that can inflate prices as they deem fit. Both reported earnings today, guess what? SIRI lost money, but less than same period in 2007...woo-hoo!
  
  Karmazin has to be blindly furious...

  Reply