Sirius-XM: Key Senator Opposes Merger

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) — chairman of the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee — opposes the proposed merger of satellite radio companies Sirius and XM and has sent the Justice Department and the FCC letters saying just that. He contends a merger “would cause substantial harm to competition and consumers. … If satellite radio is considered to be a distinct market, this merger is to a two to one merger to monopoly and should be forbidden under the antitrust laws. If satellite radio is a separate market, the combined firm will have the ability to raise price to consumers, who will have no choice to accept the price increase.” Kohl believe it is a separate market, meaning he rejects one of the key arguments made by the two companies. (via Reuters.)

Meanwhile, XM continues to deal with the ripple effects from technical problems that caused major outages for some customers this week. The company is offering refunds for two days of service. They’ll have to do better than making it contingent on a call to customer service. Twice has more.

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