Boy, this SIRI merger deal is a yo-yo:
Boucher:Satellite Radio Merger Should Be OK'd With Conditions
Mar 1, 2007 07:33:50 (ET)
(This article was originally published Wednesday)
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The tie-up between Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI) and XM Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR) should be given the green light as long as the companies agree to a series of voluntary conditions and to freeze prices, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., said Wednesday.
Boucher, a member of both the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Task Force and the House Commerce Committee's telecommunications subcommittee, said that as long as the companies agreed to conditions suggested by public interest group Public Knowledge, the merger should be allowed to proceed.
The lawmaker made the comment during a hearing of the task force into the satellite radio merger.
In her testimony earlier, Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge proposed a series of conditions on the deal.
The companies would have to allow consumers to subscribe on a channel-by-channel basis or by tiered programming; they must agree to make 5% of capacity available to noncommercial, educational purposes and should agree to freeze prices for three years after the merger is complete.
"I would think that if those conditions are reached, the merger should be allowed to proceed," said Boucher.
Sirius Chief Executive Mel Karmazin wouldn't commit himself to the conditions but had earlier pledged to cut rates after the merger was completed.
Boucher has a long-standing interest in telecommunications issues and is viewed as one of the authorities on the subject in Congress.
- By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6637; corey.boles@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
