XM Sirius Merger coming soon?

Could the merger between Sirius and XM finally be near? It’s been over a year since the merger was put forth to the FCC and finally a resolution seems to be in the works. The chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin, has recommended that the merger go through pending some conditions from the 2 companies. These conditions include a set amount of channels to be put aside for minority and noncommercial programming and a 3 year price freeze for current customers.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmizan has said there will be an ala carte option if the merger goes through with customers paying from $6.99 to $16.99 depending on the channels. You can bet your bottom dollar that channels that carry marquee programming such as Howard Stern will be in the top tier. Sirius and XM have also agreed to develop radios within one year that can receive both services.

The National Association of Broadcasters has fought a very expensive campaign against this merger fearing it would create a monopoly and take away listeners from commercial radio.

So, would a merger make you more or less likely to purchase satellite radio? Or listen to free radio? Or no impact? These days with all the IPods, mp3 players, podcasts etc that are around, I think radio has a lot of competition from more than just satellite. And having said that, I still listen. In my car and at home. I suspect radio will survive although it might be forced to adapt and change a bit which can be a good thing.