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According to the Associated Press, FCC Commissioner Adelstein has put an offer on the table that would enable the merger to happen. Adelstein, a democrat commissioner, was not widely considered as one of the commissioners that would support the merger. By Adelstein putting an offer on the table, there is perhaps a bit of insurance for the merger to proceed if republican commissioner Tate for some reason seeks even more stringent concessions.

Adelstein is asking that additional concessions be added to the deal in order to gain his support. Adelstein is said to be seeking:

  • Pricing cap for six years instead of three.
  • Commitment of 25% of the spectrum for informational and minority programming.
  • Other requirements that were not specified.

There were no details offered on whether the 25% of the spectrum would be under control of the merged entity.

In reference to the issue Adelstein stated, “It’s critical that if we’re going to allow a monopoly, that we put in adequate consumer protections and make sure they’re enforced.”

This latest news now puts commissioner Tate in even more of a spotlight than she was previously. Conventional thinking would have many believe that Tate would seek fewer concessions that Adelstein. Because of this, part of the finalized picture can now begin to take shape, and the street can begin to extrapolate where the conditions will fall.

Sirius (SIRI) and XM (XMSR) have not offered any official response to the Adelstein proposal. For quite some time it has been insinuated that giving back too much spectrum would be a deal breaker. Exactly where the spectrum line is drawn is unknown, but estimates in the neighborhood of 10% have been popular.

[Via Associated Press]

Position: Long Sirius, XM.

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    .ya cos , I think maybe he is just letting siri know that he is willing to take some bribe money ......I am sure glad the FCC isn't a 20 person panel of judges .....that would get expensive !!!!!! One more to bribe , and we're home free !!!!!!! Ok Mel , I'll pitch in a nickel to bribe that hypocrite Adelstein ......."consumer protection" my assssss

    shure46 I'm sorry isn't that your opinion that I read around 10:30 this mourning. I didn't think any of my comments asked for your opinion but I seem to have gotten it anyway.
    2008 Jul 19 12:46 AM | Link | Reply
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    Cos 1000

    I did garble that name----what's his name? lol

    Okay so it is Adelstein: With name corrected, I repeat.


    "Adelstein's proposals are unacceptable. He's coming in with a worse proposal than Georgetown Partners wanted in the fall of 2007.

    This is politics. Adelstein is kiting the percentage of the spectrum, to 25% of the spectrum likely hoping that Siri/XM will go for the 20% that Georgetown wants.

    He wants to fix the prices for 6 years. This is foolish. The economy has cycles just as businesses have cycles.

    This is a business decision that belongs to the merged companies not to the FCC.

    Adelstein is overstepping his bounds-----its rather simple either vote for the merger or vote no. The DOJ has said not a monopoly.

    Siri and XM should not fall for this gambit."


    2008 Jul 19 01:08 AM | Link | Reply
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    Roxieanne.... I agree with your opinions as always and as I said above, the Adelstein proposal is no vote in disguise...
    2008 Jul 19 01:21 AM | Link | Reply
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    WOW, I leave town for a few days and look what happens.


    Guys, dont worry, Martin asked for commissioners to give their ideas of what they would like. Adelsteins concessions dont have a leg to stand on, for one he has gone beyond his job. He has said, has someone else called it out, that he calls this a monopoly. The DOJ has already done its job on that, and said it was not. As I have told you before, write Adelstein and tell him it was not his job to figure if this was a monpoly or not, when he started to listen to the state AGs concerns.


    I find this to be a good thing because we, now know what Tate is not going to ask for. On top of that, lets face it, it has already been stated that the deal that Martin nogotiated left little wiggle room.


    jmb476, I would not worry about that because what you most likely see is that Tate, ask to make sure that the stations already being put out by SIRI/XMSR are not included in the 8%. That is as I have said would be the kind of thing that, Tate would be asking for. She is going to be looking for more along the lines of guarantees that they do what they said they would do, instead of trying to flim flam their way out of them, by basically saying ok we already have this 8 % that public Knowledge and minorities are looking for so we dont have to carry them anymore they will do it for us, and they will be paying for it instead of us, so it is actually a win for SIRI/XMSR. I dont like to put this stuff up because it shows how these concessions are not all bad for SIRI/XMSR.
    2008 Jul 19 05:47 PM | Link | Reply
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    shure46... Guess you told me. Not to worry, after that rant you are invisible to me.

    163888... Welcome back! I hope your time away was enjoyable. Your reasonable approach was missed.
    2008 Jul 19 06:12 PM | Link | Reply
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    cos1000, as to sure46, I stop seeing him a while ago. When he stop seeing the truth and I had to repeat myself over and over again. He still does not believe me about the uranium rich yellow cake that Canada bought from Iraq and was just finished transfering it. I told him in our debate that he was out matched trying to debate me on these things because he took the liberal side and liberals only see and hear what they want to. That yellow cake is a perfect example. I cant believe, He did not see it on the news unless he gets all his news from the likes of CNN.

    As to the trip it was a nice little getaway, for the wife and I, I wanted to say longer but she wanted to get back to the kids.

    I see you had very good points. I also posted on the other article by that nit-wit (M&A researcher) about Adelstein and what little he ment to the final deal. He was a no vote anyway, the only people that thought that, he was going to be reasonable was "plowboy". As you recall I told him long ago he was nuts for thinking that. The comment he made about the DOJ in reguards to the state AGs showed how unreasonable he was going to be. I really cant help but think Adelstein, as a nonissue. The only good thing about it is that it showed how far Tate would not go. Adelstein is a liberal Tate is a conservative they are even futher apart then Martin and Adelstein, in my opinion.
    2008 Jul 19 07:37 PM | Link | Reply
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    163888 Here is the link to the article regarding the "Yellow Cake" from Iraq. www.macleans.ca/articl...
    2008 Jul 19 08:44 PM | Link | Reply
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    www.time.com/time/colu... .........I find it incredible that George Bush would give a state of the union address and emphasize the yellow cake Sadaam was "attempting to buy" as a reason to go to war , instead of the 550 tons he already has !!!!!!! And please don't tell me they only found the yellow cake AFTER invading Iraq ...because this yellow cake was found at this Tuwaith NUCLEAR FACILITY , which if overlooked , means we are dipshits when it comes to intelligence ....I try to get my information from a variety of sources , and George Bush's mouth , is one of those sources ......the only story I have heard is the "attempt to buy yellow cake" , which was bogus , and certainly no reason to go to war .....as for this 550 tons already there ??? I read the article and I am more than happy to concede my error .....but I definately find it incredible that this is not front page nation wide news for George Bush to vindicate himself ......so obviously , there is more to the story , and this yellow cake must be pretty diluted since even the mcleans story said it wouldn't even be good for a dirty bomb ......but hey , I'll give ya the yellow cake story ......but with a caveat that this yellow cake must be pretty lame stuff , or it would be a major focus of the Bush administration , and nationwide , front page news ......." DEADLY YELLOWCAKE FOUND IN IRAQ , GEORGE BUSH VINDICATED " .......anyway , it doesn't matter , we went to war because that region has strategic interest , and oil is a matter of national , and world , security ....period , end of story ........anyway , I am tired of arguing and you two guys insinuating I am unreasonable and a stupid liberal crap .....I really get tired of being insulted , and I did not intend to come here and hurl insults back and forth ( but I know things get out of hand sometimes ) ....I just came here to see what people were saying about the satrad situation .......and I think we all see what we want to see ....I do not hold the patent on bias .....as for my link I posted , i simply googled yellow cake , and posted the story , I can't help it if it's a CNN story , i didn't google CNN , just yellow cake........... and the attempt to BUY yellow cake , was one of the reasons for war ....so that was the yellow cake I was thinking of in my previous posts .......The inspectors were in Iraq for years , and this yellow cake was found at a NUCLEAR FACILITY ....does it not seem strange that this was not a MAJOR selling point for war ???? OR we OVERLOOKED IT ????????????????? and 163888 , you did NOT say " Yellowcake that was shipped to Canada " ...all you said was "600 tons of yellowcake" , and I thought you meant the same yellow cake George Bush was talking about when he said " Iraq is attempting to buy yellowcake from Nigeria " ......which turned out to be bogus info ...........and I will make this my last comment to you guys , but I just wanted to clear up where I was coming from with the yellowcake post a few days ago ....and frankly , why we went to war doesn't matter now ......the only thing that matters is for the middle east to calm down and pump a secure steady supply of oil ......whatever it takes ....that's the bottom line ....so they might as well play ball or it will be more of the same ......does that sound like a "blind liberal" ???????? I believe the war was necessary , but not for the reasons we were told , and to pull out (which will never happen , that's another lie) would be a disaster .........and every politician in America knows that too , regardless of what they tell us ........now , you two guys just hurl all the insults you want at ole shure46 , my damn stock is going up , and you cannot rain on my parade in the least bit .....and cos , stop reading this post !!!!!!!! I am invisible !!!!!!!!! hahah ahahahah ahahahahhahaha .....seriously , both of you , have a good day , and we are getting a little wealthier soon ........hopefully a LOT wealthier
    2008 Jul 20 12:03 PM | Link | Reply
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    I cant believe iam even doing this, but I am only going to do it to show what a jackass you are.

    You just said: IT ????????????????? and 163888 , you did NOT say " Yellowcake that was shipped to Canada " ...all you said was "600 tons of yellowcake" , and I thought you meant the same yellow cake George Bush was talking about when he said " Iraq is attempting to buy yellowcake from Nigeria " ......which turned out to be bogus info

    Once again you just prove my point you only see and hear what you want to see and hear. Because this is my first comment on this, to you in our debate on june 8th I said this: By the way have you even heard about the 600 **TONs**, thats right not pounds, but **TONs** of Urainum rich Yellow Cake transported from Iraq to Canada (I have no idea why Canada bought it, but I feel alot safer that it is in their hands then Saddams, dont you).

    My secound comment on this was june 11th I said this: P.S. Where you also totally ignorant of the 500 chemically tip artillery shells and the 600 tons of Yellow Cake found in Iraq.

    Finally on June 13th I said: Ok this is the last time I will respond because you are just not getting it, this proves what I said about how you dont see or listen to what you dont want to. Like I said what do you call the 500 shells of chemically tip artillary rounds, What do you call 600 tons of yellow cake. Those are WMDs or the materials to make a WMD. You do know what they use yellow cake for right. WHEN I SAID IT THE FIRST TIME, DID THAT JUST BLOW BY YOU ARE WHAT.

    Those were all my comments to you about your disbelief of this each time I told you about it, and this was the comment that takes the "cake" so to speak, and your last comment and the last straw for me.

    There was NO yellow cake ...it was BS intelligence that Bush cherry picked , and ignored the intelligence telling him the story was bogus .....you being an intelligence officer in the marines only means you were indoctrinated by the military.

    You plainly denied it being there, period. Also how anyone could think I was talking about it as you suggest after reading all the statements I just showed, is just crazy, unless they just did not want to see it. As I have said when you try to debate me on these things you are over matched, coming from the perspective you are coming from. It has nothing to do with whos IQ. is larger. It has to do with how much information one is willing to take in.
    2008 Jul 20 01:42 PM | Link | Reply
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    cos1000, Thanks for the link.
    2008 Jul 20 01:43 PM | Link | Reply
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    163888...... good to see you back.... It's been kind of quiet with you gone. {and Cos1000}........ Do you feel that the "street" has figured in all of this bad Adelstein news business, as so much BS, and decided that we will have a merger at the end of the month with a positive Tate vote?.......thus, the rise in the two stocks values over the past week, {when they should have been down on bad news} and probably... continuing in a positive direction, to the end of the month merger news? Or am I being too hopeful. Thanks!
    2008 Jul 20 03:21 PM | Link | Reply
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    killerkaul, as I said before I think it was good news for them because most thought that Adelstein was a complete NO vote. This just showed that if they wanted to merge they could, even though I think they would walk away if they had to go with anything even close to what Adelstein wants.

    What have I always said about these two democrats. I know some may think it amazing how, I can call so many things. But as I have said, it is not anything special, just common sense. I also dont go to far off the reservation. As an example common sense tells me that when Martin puts a statement out that there is little wiggle room, in the agreement that he put together, take that with passed history on this merger, the fact that Tate is even more conservative then Martin, and that means she will not fall for the crap the NAB is putting out about HD,and the rest, you can come up with Tate, not asking for to much more. She is not going to mess this deal up, to get more then can be given. See *common sense*, if you look at it that way you can see what I have said is not going to far off the reservation.
    2008 Jul 20 04:54 PM | Link | Reply
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    163888..... No problem on the link. I also agree with your take on Tate as I have stated before. She is going to tighten up enforcement of concessions and probably set up some type of oversight authority paid for by the merged entity. Public Knowledge / Media Access Project, PK/MAP have made a pretty good case for it, and have used AT&T / Comcast and the Time Warner / AOL merger agreements as past precedent. Open access and minority set aside will fall under oversight authority. The one year moratorium may be stepped back to 120 - 180 days. None of these are deal breakers, simply operating plans for the merger to move forward.

    killerkaul...I don't think your being too hopeful. Both stocks have been pounded and as 163888 said above Adelstein's BS represents the deal moving forward and is not an outright "NO". Anyone who is holding a "short" position with the merger so close to being done, needs to close the position, buy the borrowed shares, while they can. With all the talk lately of "Naked Short" positions and how to better regulate (again) and enforce the current rules, investors don't want to be unable buy shares at the right price. Although there probably will be no "short" squeeze, it does put upward pressure, in addition to longs getting in, on the stock price. This moves SIRI up and because of the "Risk" Arbitrage with XM, as SIRI moves up, XM will follow. With SIRI at $2.28, XM is at $10.49, (2.28 x 4.6) at merger approval, while closing on Friday at $8.55. That's a 22.5% "Risk" Premium to XM. So as SIRI's stock price creeps up with merger anticipation for whatever the investor's reason is, (every $.01 of SIRI is $.046 of XM) the Risk Premium for XM goes up also, not necessarily in % but in $. Upon approval the Risk Premium essentially goes away and moves in lock step with SIRI's stock price. This is why I have bought around 2,000 shares of XM with an Average Cost of 7.34 over the last 2 weeks. It's not much but its been working so far.
    2008 Jul 20 07:51 PM | Link | Reply
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    163888, and Cos1000........... Good morning, nice increases on siri and xm this morning. Thank you for your replys and insight, as usual, they were very helpful. Things seem to be going according to the outlines you have set forth thus far. I'm hoping that, as the price of the stocks climb daily, that the excitement being generated on the street in anticipation of the merge...... will increase the size and breadth of the pop .... when the merge does occur. Will just have to wait and see. Run Blue Dog Runnn...............
    2008 Jul 21 10:22 AM | Link | Reply
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    163888 - "Sirius Post Merger Guidance" your post 7-13 05:08PM .......you said , "what about the 600 tons of yellowcake" ......period .....and really dude , this crap that I only see what I want to see is just as easily applied to you as it is to me ....everyone has some bias I think , and you are no exception ......ok , so enjoy your money you made the last few days on siri/xm , and things are looking better for all of us .....
    2008 Jul 21 11:52 AM | Link | Reply
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    Oh I think there is little difference when we get passed the 200 ton mark, besides you are right I include the other radioactive equipment that Canada took, as part of the deal. that was first reported as a total of the 600 tons of yellow cake. It has since been corrected in the news. As to where you are spliting hairs of my comment, I showed you to be totally wrong on yours.

    Second I have not made anything until it hits 2.5 then I will sell that 3000 I bought at 1.86. Who called that by the way, and then the run up, hummmmm. I guess you could split hairs again, and say that SIRI down turn lasted longer then first thing Thursday morning. and went into the late morning.
    2008 Jul 21 12:18 PM | Link | Reply
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    163888 - www.foxnews.com/story/... ....... this is a pretty comprehensive log of events in Iraq prior to war .....note , massive weapons inspections and , Iraq's abilities to wage war strongly diminished by destroying any weapons found .....and the source is fox news .....note the free reign of inspectors in Iraq to go wherever they want and to order weapons destroyed ......time after time , again and again , over and over , log entries galore .......FOX NEWS ......Iraq was very much weakened , and all sadaam had to do was play ball ....but he got cocky , and we let him have it .......that's what I see from my blind liberal eyes .....thank you fox , for confirming what I already knew
    2008 Jul 21 12:19 PM | Link | Reply
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    If the inspectors were allowed to go where they wanted and destroy whatever they wanted then why did they not get the yellow cake. Simple they where not as you claim. You once again prove my point about only seeing what you want, and hearing what you want, You also prove by point about FOX news, being fair and balenced. You obviously missed or just did not want to see all the reports FOX did on how Saddam held them up and would not let them inspect sites when they wanted or where they wanted. It was suppose to be full discloser according to the treaty Iraq signed after the first war. I remember one in because I found it to be the most funny. The Iraqy government told the inspectors that they are able to go where they want, but they have to be accompanied by monitors, and there are none avaible yet. I guess you just missed that one though, right, along with the dozens of others.

    On that note, I will say; You are a lunitic not to much unlike VicDave, and I will not bother with you until you find help. I am sorry, but just because you are for SIRI it does not make you anymore valid then VicDave.
    2008 Jul 21 02:21 PM | Link | Reply
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    Liberals...... the more I learn of their blind emotionalism, the less and less hope I have, for their party ever becoming even somewhat rational.
    2008 Jul 21 03:02 PM | Link | Reply
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    YUM YUM YELLOWCAKE ....ok , after reading up as much as i can on this yellowcake situation , then here is what i see with my blind liberal eyes ....the Tuwaith nuclear facilty was bombed way back in the 80's by Israel .....and apparently the facility was not functional , and contained this yellowcake ....all the inspectors knew about it , everyone has known about it for years ....the Tuwaith nuclear facility is no secret , and it lies 12 miles south of Baghdad ....apparently , no one has given a crap about this yellowcake for a long long time , and finally they decided , " Hey we better clean this place up and get this shit outta here " .....That yellow cake has sat there for years , and finally they got around to cleaning it up .......NOW I know why the story of Sadaam "attempting to buy MORE yellow cake " ( which turned out to be false ) was more important than this " 550 tons he ALREADY HAD " ......Just as my suspicions confirmed , this yellowcake was not a big deal , and everyone knew about it for years .......The Tuwaith nuclear facility was bombed and worthless for years , and the radioactive debris was finally cleaned up and shipped out .........so I guess that's just blind emotionalism on my part , and the reason no one "got the yellow cake" until now , is because they didn't give a shit about it !!!!!!!! They damn sure knew about it since the early 90's !!!!!!!!! You know it takes our government a long time to get around to things ......and i even read another article where it was GREENPEACE that finally prodded the government to clean that mess up because the Iraqi villagers were being contaminated with radiation !!!!!!!! They were pilfering the nuclear complex for whatever they could find , and getting irradiated in the process !!!!!!! Those damn liberals !!!!!!!!
    2008 Jul 21 09:37 PM | Link | Reply
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