This just in...

Was just checking the headlines before I hit the hay, and I came across
an interesting tidbit - the 2 satellite radio operators, XM and Sirius,
have made a tentative agreement to merge. I say tentative because the
merger still needs to be approved by the FCC (Federal Communications
Commission); it would also need to meet the anti-trust standards set by
the U.S. Dept. of Justice. It was just a few years ago that a merger
between the 2 providers of satellite TV, Dish Network and Direct TV,
was attempted but rejected due to heavy opposition to such a monopoly.
The National Association of Broadcaster's have already urged policy-
makers to reject the satellite radio deal, calling it an "anti-consumer
proposal". Both XM nor Sirius, despite having a combined 14 million
subscribers, are still facing financial losses. Neither have determined a
name for the company if the merger goes through. It would not affect
programming, but simply give listeners more choices (and higher
subscription rates perhaps?), from shock jock Howard Stern to diva
Martha Stewart. It should be interesting to see how this will play out
over the next few months.