Sirius (SIRI): Key Player Rejects Merger Idea

Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl chairman of the U.S. Senate’s antitrust subcommittee suggested that regulators nix the merger of Sirius (SIRI) and XM (XMSR). His comments were aimed at the Justice Department and FCC.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Kohl wrote "The combined firm would have the ability to raise prices to consumers, who will have no choice but to accept the price increase," he said. "Such a result would be unacceptable under antitrust law and as a matter of communications policy."

While there is still some distance to go before the merger is approved or rejected. SIRI and XMSR are running out of time. Based on the most recent quarterly results for each company, it is hard to see that either is viable long-term without raising additional case. XM has also had to deal with suspending the hosts of its morning program over leud comments and outages on one of its satellites.

Vegas odds are now 3 to 1 against approval

Douglas A. McIntyre