Sirius-XM Merger Decision Delay Is Unacceptable
FCC to approve Sirius (SIRI) / XM (XMSR) merger by the end of the second quarter. Yawn...
And so passes June 2008. The lettuce continues to rot on the dock and tax payer money is still circling the drain. For me, this merger is no longer about anti-trust issues. It is about our Government failing its people. The rejection or approval of these companies has been delayed for one reason only. Nobody wants to own the final decision. No one wants to be responsible.
Consider this:
1. If the merger doesn't go through and Sirius goes under, the public blames the FCC and the Justice Department for dragging their feet because of the pressure they have been under from the NAB and the politicians they support.
2. If the merger goes through and the business succeeds, the NAB and the politicians blame the FCC and The Justice Department for allowing a monopoly, although Clear Channel (CCU) has no one to blame but themselves for their complacency. The fact that they are upset about a company that makes up a whopping 5% of the radio market is very sad indeed.
This is a no win situation for the FCC and the Justice Department. I agree that it is a decision that must be evaluated carefully and with the utmost management skills but the real problem I have with this situation is that the powers that be are paid well by the public to make these difficult decisions. Otherwise we do not need you
I say as a proud American who spent some of the best years of his life in Washington D.C. supporting two Presidents, that this situation stopped being a joke a long time ago and has turned into such gross negligence that the disappointment in this branch of our political system may be unrecoverable.
I challenge the FCC to grow spines, do their jobs and just make a decision. Yes or No. Forget about the political repercussions for a moment and consider the fact that it is not in the interest of the tax payers to drag this out for so long. If political pressure and fallout is the main concern, wait until tax payer votes are needed if you ever aspire to a higher position of Government. If you think it is lonely at the top, it is worse in the desert.
Disclosure: None
This article has 90 comments:
(2) That satrad continually faces immense challenges almost as if pre-ordained and continual like the rising of the sun. Excessive start up costs, Ipod, Bad management, lawsuits, NAB, Paid for Congress, $4.00 gas, automotive product mix, HD, Internet Radio, Cash flow, recession, slumping auto sales, and now an impotent, political and disconnected FCC.
I'm afraid at this point I can only conclude that she is leveraging her vote for her own personal gain very much like Martin did in delaying this vote for 17 months.
I will be opposed to Ms. Tate's continuation at the FCC even if she votes twice in favor of this merger this afternoon, as I'm done with her and frankly tired about hearing what she wants... that she's unsure .. that she seems conflicted. Jesus H Fucking Christ lady, if you have no idea 506 days after the merger announcement, I for one would suggest you're not capable of an opinion.
In honor of Ms. Tate's either indecisiveness, incompetence or self serving nature the people she's chosen to ignore have penned a little ditty in her honor;
--
Come and listen to a story about a girl named Deb
A poor mountaineer, the NAB kept her family fed
Then one day she was primping in the mirror
And in through the door came a fellow named Rehr… Dave that is …
Limousines, trips.. speaking fees !
Well the first thing you know Old Deb’s a millionaire
Rehr said Deb let’s move away from here
He said “In Congress” is the place you ought to be
So they loaded up the Lexus and moved on up the street
K Street that is … Lobbyists, parties… trips to Africa …Swimmin pools, movie stars.
The FCC Hillbillies!
Well now its time to say good-bye to the FCC and all their friends
They would like to thank you folks for buying in with them
You're all invited back again to this locality, to watch the constipation and mediocrity
Politics that is. Set a spell. Take your wallet out . Y'all come back now, y'hear?
Just a disgrace!
Your choice of words are interesting yet underscore the problem.
You talk about a "win" for the FCC.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the FCC's duty and purpose isn't to win anything but to support and determine the application of rules and technology that aid and educate the people.
It seems they have a confused their jobs with their careers.
doj must restore order and remind ag-s that the department is the office designated and authorized to adjudicate issues of national scope filed with the department.
they were appointed to their position to make decisions - timely decisions.
guy
To allow a group with special interests to coast so many so much is appalling. We have the power to stop all of this B--l S--t*$# right now, wheres Penn&Teller when you need them.
Call your representatives and your congressmen, give us a list of people at the FCC we can hold accountable, remember you are the power behind all government demand disclosure and clarity where you see only a smoke screen. Drop the gauntlet you are already armed against such injustice YOU HAVE YOUR VOTE, USE IT
John
check this out: www.fcc.gov/transactio...
It amazes me the reasons people give why the are against the merger. The North Carolina Public Radio Stations states "Just a few weeks ago, the House Appropriations Committee approved an additional $40 million to assist public radio stations’ transition to HD radio technology." as proof that congress supports terrestial digital radio. Hey, how about giving the $40 million back to the tax payers and letting terrestial radio survive on its own?
American
So you can make money for our economy, to help offset your unproductive pay for the last 15 months. This would solve all the problems just by selling the spectrum to all the parties interested in my companies’ assets.
Signed;
Disappointed American
American
You all should be embarrassed, and fired! You have lied and stalled enough. 180 day clock =a scam, by the end of the year=a Lie, by the end of the first quarter=another Lie, Shortly after the DOJ decision=another lie, Martin says he was having multiple drafts written months ago=lie. Now shortly and pretty shortly; but no drafts circulated in over a year and a half! Now By the second quarter again nothing…..What have they done in all that time????? DOJ has proven this is not a monopoly! Allow the licenses to be combined and stop pandering to every group out there! They have no right trying to get my Company for free, I paid for shares of my company and you have no right to give anybody anything that I own. If the minorities want more radio exposure let them go buy a radio station with their own money. This is a free country, not a socialist state. So allow the combo with no concessions other than what the companies agreed to begin with. I hope you are all investigated for this disgrace, you are going far beyond what the FCC was intended for and now you are using this unassigned power to destroy American confidence in our government, and any company you choose to destroy. Your stalling of this decision has cost me personally and many more I am sure, I hope the companies file suit for your stall tactics, the empire state building was built in less time. And both companies have now lost the Millions/ Billions due to your indecision. You have no right to cost companies so much. This is America, free market capitalism, remember? This is not a necessity it is a pay luxury service. Mr. Martin do you have a Boss that oversees you, or are you a free-bird with no one to answer to? I would like to speak to your boss because no common sense decision can take over a year to make. I don’t know of any company, employee, or anybody that can take so long to do a job and still have a job after showing this amount of incompetence. I want you and you group all fired. Here is a link to a video that shows how irrelevant you group is; www.youtube.com/watch?...
So in ending you appear to be protecting your buddies at the NAB, and pandering to any special interest group wanting something for free. How about the Americans you supposed to be protecting? By the length of time you have been taking means one thing to this American and that is you are saying FU to ME. And I want you Fired. I will be sending this to anyone that will read it, the sad thing about that is that unless it is accompanied with a check, I assume no government official will read it.
Signed; One disappointed American.
I think all 19 Million plus Sirius/XM subscribers send complains to the FCC.
Maybe instead of writing your Politicians and the FCC, we should write to Dateline, Newsweek, 60 Minutes, Time, your local news stations, your local newspapers... Hopefully at least one won't be controlled by or in the pocket of someone who is in with the NAB and a story could get through!
(202) 418-2000....Copps
(202) 418-2300....Adelstein
(202) 418-2500....Tate
(202) 418-2200....Mcdowell
Hope that helps.
Tate split the country without voting. Way to go Tate.
of Value
of Value
of Value
right
The FCC's job is not about the impact on your investments.
The FCC's job is to fairly and in a timely manner address the filings and legitimate concerns of American Business for which they regulate, and for which they have professionally failed doing in the Sirius-XM case.
Be pissed that personal gain and favor superseded judicial responsibility. Be pissed that the arrogance of the Fab Five exceeds those of whom they are to serve. Be pissed that an entertainment form that you enjoy and appreciate has been severely and negatively impacted by their gross malfeasance, but don't be pissed that you lost money.
of Value
interests have brought self-serving political pressure that has far exceeded the preset deadlines. It is apparent that the FCC is behaving like a paper tiger, afraid to stand up and make a decision.
I am renaming the FCC as the Eveready Bunny --- with big ears, short legs, small brain, little conscience, and no voice.
of Value
the last sentence caught my attention ....what exactly is this "20% of FM frequency is dedicated to non-commercial non-profit stations" ????? Surely they are not referring to the radio evangelists that constantly beg for money , and are still charged for airtime just like anyone else ?????? What a blatant load of bull cacca
American
If I was near The FCC I would be Picketing............
of Value
Since most have been on the wrong side of these trades I would not be shocked if buy-and-hold isn't correct despite what the pundits think. Sell on the news may be temporary and short sighted.
And bought AMBAC,I tought about it but didn't have the balls to do it.
Would of made at least 75% profit and counting.....BUT should of would of doesn't get you far in the stock market.
SIRIUS WORLD
Muley101...Stan It feels like your right on the money with Tate and some tougher concessions for Mel to think over while she takes a break from the barrage of calls for the merge. Her decision will probably come after the 18 th. Maybe over that weekend, wouldn't want to be on the sidelines that weekend.
Everyone else has paid for their right to complain and be pissed off at this point, but fear not the end of this BS is near.
That is, everyone except VicDave, who just watches and taunts. Another day of Blah, Blah, Blah, from the Vicar of Meaningless Taunts.
163888......as always your comments are reasonable and helpful and I know your 7/08, 8:21 post was not directed at the FCC.
cos1000, You are correct my friend, Seeking Alpha took down a prior post that I said;
I was sick and tired of people getting on Tate now. That the voting gos both ways, and why not get on the 2 democrat imbeciles that have not voted yet. We all know the dumb things they have said about this merger and how they are against it. So why have they not voted against it yet. I will tell you why , so they can delay it another 10 days after the other two rebupicans vote for it.
That was a much shorter and less vulger version. Hence why it was taken down I guess. So yes, it was not directed at the FCC it was directed at the, blank, blank, blank, idiots on this blog, That are still blaming people like Martin. For god sake I wish they would get it through their thick heads Martin has already given his approval and is out of his hands at this point. But he still went as far, to still have a staffer say this:
Two letters sent last Friday from members of Congress to the Federal Communications Commission asked that the merged entity set aside 20% to 25% of its airwaves for public and minority programming. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has recommended an 8% set-aside.
"With the commitments the two companies have offered, on balance, this transaction seems to be a fair way to compromise," said FCC Spokesman Robert Kenny, responding to the letters.
In addition to the 24 channels that would be devoted to minority and nonprofit programming, XM and Sirius also have pledged to cap subscriber prices for three years if the merger is approved.
Martin's recommendation to approve the merger now is being considered by the other four FCC commissioners. The parties are hoping the two Republican commissioners will soon sign off, which, with Martin's support, would effectively seal the deal.
People close to the talks say Martin's recommended conditions have been carefully negotiated, hinting that there may not be much more wiggle room on the terms.
I put a little extra from the article from the Wahington (Dow Jones) to put light on what he was responding to.
I will say it once again sense it was taken down. I have no problem with people wanting to write/call or even blame Tate, I have done it myself. But lets not forget that there are 2 bigger fish out there that should be blamed and written/called, Copps and Adelstein. Hell you never know, Tate may have already voted, and we are now waiting on the 2 democrats stalling for every last second on this deal to be approved. I have said it before it boggles my mind why Mcdowell has not made his vote known by now.
of Value
Here's something meaningful: HD Radio. Along with Internet radio, will forever limit the profitability of satrad. Why pay $12.95 a month for something you'll eventually be able to get for free, especially with oil at $150 a barrel?
Besides, satrad has no contracts to "lock in" customers, unlike wireless providers. It can't bundle services. Satrad is at an inherent competitive disadvantage with limited prospects for growth.
www.usatoday.com/tech/...
I've experienced HD first hand. My experiences suggest that it makes shitty programing and 40% commercial content sound only slightly worse than traditional FM.
Impressed with the sound quality of HD...Not so much.
Impressed with the sound quality of Satrad .. extremely.
And I work for Consumer's Report!
www.istockanalyst.com/...#
I have to say, besides the time SIRI/XMSR shot up to much, to unbelievable levels. This is the most fun I have had in this stock. I have had some good debates and some really bad, waste of time ones (VicDave). All in all not a bad time it is something to do. You just dont get the kind of interaction on a DSX, EXC, as a matter of fact there was a post on ECX Seeking Alpha that said how boreing it is.
I say amen to Gino, and thx to him for calling the FCC on the carpet. But, how about if we do something more aggressive, more proactive? How about if we all make a mass "call-in" today to one local TV News station and tell them that Thursday at 1 pm EST, we're all going to call the FCC (or those local to FCC can go there) and demand that they do their job, that they expel feces or get off the toilet, and we're going to give them to the end of the work day next Monday, July 14th, or we're going to get louder and make their lives miserable.
By the time I registered myself to incl. my first post here, and then did the email verify, someone had posted that one of the FCC chairpersons is away til the 16th. So, let's give them a deadline of Fri., the 18th to make a decision. whaddya say?
jmb476, You cant sue the FCC they are protected. But you can personally sue each member for what ever reason you want, they would then be forced to defend themselves, no matter how ridiculous. Now can you see each one being sued by a 1,000 people for whatever reason (didn't you loan Adelstein money) well he would be forced to defend himself you could keep him in court all day for the next 20 years if enough people did it at a different times. At the very least you would be able to get him as frustrated as you are.
The following is an excerpt from:
https://arrl.org/forms/fdefens.../
"On Friday, April 25 the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit confirmed .... about how the FCC was handling the BPL interference issue: FCC prejudice tainted the rulemaking process.
In fact, the FCC’s mishandling of the issue was so egregious that the Court took an unusual step: it did not defer to the Commission’s presumed expertise on a highly technical issue."
The Article goes on:
"The Court of Appeals found that the FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not disclosing in full the staff studies on which the Commission relied."
...
......
"there is no APA precedent allowing an agency to ‘cherry-pick’ a study on which it has chosen to rely in part…."
"The Commission can point to no authority allowing it to rely on the studies in a rulemaking but hide from the public parts of the studies that may contain contrary evidence, inconvenient qualifications, or relevant explanations of the methodology employed….no precedent sanctions such a ‘hide and seek’ application of the APA’s notice and comment requirements.” [emphasis added]
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge David S. Tatel wrote: “[I]n this very case the Commission redacted individual lines [emphasis in original] from certain pages on which it otherwise relied….there is little doubt that the Commission deliberately attempted to ‘exclude[] from the record evidence adverse to its position’ [emphasis added]….”
The Court also found that the Commission failed to justify its decision to apply an “extrapolation factor that was designed to accommodate technologies different in scale, signal power, and frequencies used” to Access BPL and that it “summarily dismissed… empirical data that was submitted at its invitation.”
Commissioner Tate,
I hope that you seriously consider approving the merger of sirious-xm. It is ridiculous to disallow this merger. One or both cos. will be forced to go bankrupt and then you and the rest of the FCC will be responsible for the failing of possibly both cos. This is no way to treat the public who have spent money on equipment that is not usable now because of simple political idiocy. Do the right thing pass the merger before its to late, I think 1&1/2 years is long enough to let these 2 cos. hemorrhage money.
Lance Muessle