On March 24, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a statement saying they have cleared the proposed merger of XM/Sirius and would not sue to block the merger. To see the full statement, please click here. The next step for merger proponents is to gain approval of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). A number of organizations and individuals have already contacted the FCC on what conditions should be attached to the monopoly if the FCC decides to move forward on it.

NAB released the following comment on the DOJ decision from NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton:

"We are astonished that the Justice Department would propose granting a monopoly to two companies that systematically broke FCC rules for more than a decade. To hinge approval of this monopoly on XM and Sirius's refusal to deliver on a promise of interoperable radios is nothing short of breathtaking."

Even though more than 80 members of Congress weighed in against the monopoly, the DOJ justified the decision by suggesting that XM and Sirius do not really compete with each other because they do not have devices that are interoperable. The FCC previously required the satellite radio companies to design and make publicly available interoperable radios when it created the satellite radio service in 1997. More than a decade since that explicit condition, no such radio yet exists. Here is the text of the FCC's rule:

Receiver Inter-operability [from 12 FCC Rcd. 5754, 5797]

[Beginning omitted]...We adopt...the principle behind our proposed rule that satellite DARS licensees are required to design a receiver which would accommodate all satellite DARS providers. By promoting receiver inter-operability for satellite DARS, we are encouraging consumer investment in satellite DARS equipment and creating the economies of scale necessary to make satellite DARS receiving equipment affordable. This rule also will promote competition by reducing transaction costs and enhancing consumers' ability to switch between competing DARS providers. We decline to adopt a specific standard for satellite DARS receiver designs, though. This will allow licensees the flexibility to determine the most cost effective way to meet our receiver-interoperability requirements.

As an alternative to this Commission mandating standards we will require that a satellite DARS applicant, in its application, certify that its satellite DARS system will include a receiver design that will permit users to access all licensed DARS systems that are operational or under construction. Satellite DARS licensees, during the construction of their satellite systems, will have an opportunity to work among themselves toward a final receiver design...We believe that, at the very least, consumers should be able to access the services from all licensed satellite DARS systems and our rule on receiver inter-operability accomplishes this. (emphasis added)