House Antitrust Task Force To Hold Hearing on Sirius/XM Merger

Following the announcement by Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.'s announcement on Monday, February 19, 2007 of its plans for a $13 billion "merger of equals," the U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee announced on February 21 that its newly formed Antitrust Task Force will hold a hearing next week on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. to investigate the potential anticompetitive effects of the proposed merger. Sirius and XM are currently the only two companies licensed to offer satellite radio to U.S. consumers, thereby raising antitrust concerns. The two satellite radio companies, however, have argued that satellite radio faces tremendous competition from all other types of music delivery services, including mp3 players, iPods, and, of course, terrestrial radio.