Congressman Supports Satellite Radio Merger

Rick Boucher, a Democratic congressman from Virginia, supports the proposed merger of Sirius and XM Radio and believes it will create more public service programming. In his op-ed piece in Business Week, Boucher says:

The key issues for both agencies (the FCC and Justice Department) are whether the merger would hinder competition in the relevant market and the effect the merger would have on consumers. In each instance, a close examination of the facts supports merger approval.

Boucher also said the merger will benefit listeners. He said the merger will diversify programming beyond music and talk. Boucher writes:

As an additional benefit of the merger, the extra bandwidth that the elimination of duplication would produce will result in the offering of more public-interest programming than either XM or Sirius now offers. The combined company will be able to expand diverse programs for under-served interests, such as foreign language and religious programming.

Here is NAB's take on the merger.