DoJ Blesses SatRadio Unification

The Justice Department has OK’d the XM and Sirius satellite radio companies merger. This blending of the firms was initiated more than a year ago in February of 2007, with company shareholders giving their approval to the merger last November. Now that the Justice Department hurdle has been breached, the Federal Communications Commission must still give their approval… but the odds of the FCC crossing DoJ are small to none. Certainly there could be restrictions tossed into the mix by the FCC when they do approve the blending of the companies, which should come over the next few weeks. Certainly a satellite radio monopoly will be created with this merger, but the companies argued they already have tough competition from other audio entertainment genres as it is, so the elimination of competition argument should be moot. Ahead, once the FCC blesses the union, is a great deal of engineering work as… yep, neither of the receivers used by the companies are compatible with one another.