Pact brings Sirius-XM merger closer, FCC says
Published: Fri, Jul. 25, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Fri, Jul. 25, 2008 05:44AM
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closeWASHINGTON -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin said Thursday that Sirius and XM had agreed to pay $19.7 million to resolve outstanding compliance problems with some of their radios and transmitters. The move clears the way for final regulatory approval of the long-pending $3.9 billion merger of the nation's two satellite radio companies.
The FCC appeared poised to grant the merger after resolving the compliance issues, which were a priority of Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, the swing vote on the five-member panel and the only commissioner yet to make a decision.
Martin said XM agreed to pay $17.5 million and Sirius $2.2 million for unauthorized ground-based repeater transmitters and radios that exceeded power limits.
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Broadcasters had made the compliance problems part of their aggressive campaign to persuade regulators to deny the merger. The Justice Department approved the merger in March. Martin announced his support last month after Sirius and XM agreed to several conditions, including freezing subscription rates for three years, offering cheaper packages of stations, and allocating 4 percent of their channels for noncommercial and minority programming. The companies have a combined subscriber base of more than 18 million.
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