Heavenly Bodies Finally Get Approval!

SIRI

Sirius

XM and Sirius (SIRI) satellite radio FINALLY got approval today from the FCC after a long, long 16 month review.
Now we'll see how long it takes to do the actual deal. Hopefully its very soon so that we can see a huge pop! in the stock price. As of right now the stock is at $2.66 with over 53,650,000 shares volume!

Sirius1

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed published reports that he would support the transaction, with the companies agreeing to a series of conditions.

Those conditions include a pledge to make 24 radio channels available for noncommercial and minority programming, according to FCC sources. In addition, the companies would agree to cap prices, provide interoperable radios and offer programming on an "a la carte" basis.

"I am recommending that with the voluntary commitments they've offered, on balance, this transaction would be in the public interest," Martin said in a statement.

Martin's proposal to approve the deal could be circulated among the other commissioners as soon as this week, the FCC sources said. As the number of cars with built-in satellite radio has increased, both services are still adding subscribers, who pay about $13 a month for more than 100 channels of music, news and talk programming. XM ended the first quarter with about 9.3 million subscribers, vs. 8.6 million for Sirius.

Last year one of the companies announced subscribers would be able to choose 50 channels for $6.99 -- a 46 % decrease from the current standard subscription rate of $12.95. Customers could then add more channels for a minimum of 25 cents each.