Today was a big day vis-à-vis the XM-Sirius merger, as Johnathan Adelstein, the FCC commissioner who wanted to place all those restrictions on the merger in exchange for his support, has officially withdrawn his proposal, voting against the merger in the process. That leaves us all tied up for votes for and against the merger with one single, solitary vote pending.
Deborah Taylor Tate (right), a Republican, is now the final deciding vote. If she votes for the merger then it goes through. If she votes against it, all of this merger talk has been a giant waste of time, even more so than it already has been.
Tate is thought to be in favor of the merger.
Adelstein’s statement reads as if he expects the merger to go through:
… it appears they’re going to get a monopoly with window dressing. We really missed a great opportunity to reach a bipartisan agreement that would have benefited the American people.
Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure more Americans are concerned with things like high gas prices than whether or not a couple of subscription radio services merge.
Bottom line, this merger thing should be wrapping up sooner rather than later. Imagine that!
I don’t normally make statements like this, but Adelstein can go F an iron pipe. At least now if this thing passes it won’t be burdened by all his “hey look I watch out for the little guy by sticking my nose in a business I don’t understand and saddling them with non-sense restrictions for a service people pay for and can cancel if they don’t feel it meets their needs so vote for me” legislation.
**Not going through again, trying another post with different words hoping it doesn’t get caught in some filter…
While more Americans are concerned with high gas prices, it’s outside of the purview of the FCC. Their job is to find what’s in the best interest of Americans in the context of their job.
It’s like saying that more Americans are concerned with taxes than with electronics, but I’m really glad you focus on the gear rather than the taxes.