Former FCC Chair Supports Satellite Radio Merger

XM and Sirius trotted out former FCC chairman Reed Hundt to drum up support for the proposed merger of the two services. Hundt served as chair from 1993 to 1997, and played a large part in formulating the licensing agreement and getting it approved. Hundt called the merger "pro-competitive" and said that the market had changed since the ground rules for the licenses had been laid down. Most notably, he said that apart, the companies were unable to mount serious competition to terrestrial radio as was initially feared.

The reasoning for the initial two licenses was that the business model was not clear at the time. "It was never the case that these service rules were intended to be written [in] concrete or, like the Constitution of the United States, changed only through an elaborate process," he said. Instead, Hundt said that the rules were intended to get the industry off to a good start, and make it competitive to traditional radio, which it so far has not successfully done.