I was just looking at the Wall Street Journal's Internet site and I found a story about XM Satellite Radio (XMSR: sentiment, chart, options) and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI: sentiment, chart, options) that focuses on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) review of the merger. Last night, Democratic FCC commissioner Michael Copps voted against the deal. Two other votes have been cast, both for the deal. Copps' vote against the deal was expected, but as the author (Amy Schatz) notes, it may ramp up pressure on Republican Deborah Taylor Tate, as she is the only member that hasn't spoken publicly on her view of the deal. Fellow Democrat, Jonathan Adelstein, has laid out conditions that XMSR and SIRI would have to meet in order to get his approval. These conditions include a 6-year price dap for existing customers, inter-operable radios that would receive HD radio signals from terrestrial radio stations, and 25% of the stations set aside for non-commercial and minority-owned radio stations. It appears that the count is 2 for, 1 against as far as the merger is concerned ... setting up an interesting situation.

As a SIRI listener, thanks to my new Fightvan (see the third bullet point, and I know the blog deals with XMSR), I like the conditions laid out by Adelstein. However, it really won't matter, as I will more than likely not subscribe to whatever satellite provider is available once my year-long audition ends. That said, the chances of a satellite and HD radio receiver make it more of a possibility.

To read about XM Satellite Radio's earnings, please click here.