XM, Sirius talking to FCC about finalizing merger approval

XM Radio and Sirius appear ready to accept concessions that would finally bring their 17-month merger effort to a close, according to a statement issued Thursday.

XM and Sirius confirmed they are in talks with the FCC enforcement bureau to accept specific conditions that would gain the merger approval from the body. It appears that the stipulations match those of Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, who is the lone holdout.

Currently, the vote to approve is tied 2-2, with the two Democratic commissioners on the board voting against, and the Republicans voting for it. Democratic commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was expected to vote for the merger pending the measures Tate was calling for, however voted against it on Wednesday.

His calls for a six-year price cap and more educational and minority owned stations was rejected by the two companies, leading him to vote against. Sources indicate Tate will vote for the deal possibly as early as Thursday, but exact language of the agreement needed to be worked out.

Among the measures to be addressed include assurance that the companies would address the problems of non-compliant radios, which include issues with the FM transmitters exceeding FCC limits. The agency has received several complaints surrounding those problems.

It appears from the statement as if XM and Sirius may actually take a proactive stance in dealing with those radios that have been taken off the market but still are being used by some consumers.

Another sticking point is the terrestrial repeaters the satellite providers use in urban areas to improve the signal. In some cases, the companies did this without FCC approval.

XM was the bigger violator of the two, and is agreeing to shut down 50 towers, and either bring 50 more into compliance or shut them down as well. The company will pay $17.5 million in fines as a result.

Sirius will shut down 11 repeaters, but will escape much penalty because it had shut off the offending repeaters after the FCC warned the company in October 2006. It will only pay $2.5 million as a result.

In either case, the companies will have 60 days from the deal's approval to comply. The FCC says XM's fine is bigger due to it keeping the towers in operation even after the agency had informed it of the violations.