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Are the DOJ & FCC to Blame For the Economy?
February 15, 2008
With the presidential races in full swing there is a lot of finger pointing about the state of our economy. And while the finger pointing has been all over the place no one has seemed to ever blame the DOJ & FCC… until now.
It has been almost a year now (361 days to be exact) since it was announced that XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio announced that they wanted to merge. Since announcing this merger both companies have gone from fast growing companies into companies that seem to be running on life support. Sales for both companies have dried up as both companies wait for the Department of Justice and FCC to give them approval to merge.
For these companies to survive they need these guys to approve or deny the merger ASAP so they can get back to promoting and improving their services. Consumers have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for a decision to be made, withholding buying into satellite radio, and this has been killing the satellite radio industry. To me it is almost like the satellite radio industry is being held hostage by the DOJ & FCC.
These delays by the DOJ and FCC have prevented millions of dollars from being invested in satellite radio by not only investors but also consumers who don’t want to invest into a satellite radio technology, as they are unsure of what the future holds. From where I sit the DOJ & FCC have killed the Satellite Radio Economy.
Part of the concern over this merger is that some think that the merger between Sirius and XM would create a monopoly. I don’t believe this is the case at all though, after all look at what the NAB has been doing in trying to stop this merger. It appears that they are afraid of something called “competition.” A note to the NAB, stop worrying about satellite radio and instead fix free radio, make radio local again, get rid of the voice tracked DJ’s give us back local news and events and play what folks want to hear, if you did this you would not need to worry about the competition from satellite radio.
The XM / Sirius merger is not the only satellite related one being held hostage by the government, the DirecTV / Liberty Media deal has been on the governments plate for well over a year now. What is the hold up here?
I should not take this long for the DOJ / FCC to make decisions as these as they are holding companies back as they sit almost in hibernation waiting for approval. It should not be hard, let the public comment on the deals then take a look at what the pros and cons are and then vote yes or no. It should not be that hard or take this long.
I think the system needs a rework.
Have a great weekend!
Posted by Scott Greczkowski on February 15, 2008 | Comments (8)
