The SIRIUS Satellite Radio (SIRI-NASDAQ) and XM Satellite Radio (XMSR-NASDAQ) merger has so far been unsuccessful and has so far been a painful one for shareholders.  The FCC and Congress have been hampering the deal, and this morning the companies highlighted a group of public supported for the merger.  unfortunately there is not a single group in there that will be able to be a game-changer as far as the regulators are concerned.

Each of the signatories to the advertisement has already filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which opened its public comment period on the merger Friday, June 8, 2007. In their FCC comments, many of the organizations cited satellite radio’s program diversity and the merger’s potential to strengthen or expand such programs and channels as primary reasons for their support for the SIRIUS-XM combination.

– League of Rural Voters
– National Consumers League
– National Black Chamber of Commerce
– Hispanic Federation
– The Latino Coalition
– League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
– New York State Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce
– Women Involved in Farm Economics (WIFE)

These companies are still in the fight and even hired a top lobbying firm to push the merger.  Whether or not it will be successful is still an unknown, although the prevailing thought seems to be less than a 50% chance of the merger closing.  If only they could have signed the Vienna Boys Choir……….

XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) closed down 1.7% at $10.56 and Sirius (SIRI) closed up 0.3% at $2.77 today.  Neither stock move today will be considered a success at all in a strong market with the NASDAQ having closed up 1.3% and the DJIA closing up 1.4%.

Jon C. Ogg
June 13, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

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