After nearly two years of begging him to be furious, I apparently still don’t have Patrick furious enough about the FCC’s slaughter of satellite radio. Like I told him in a recent email, that was my Last, Great Libertarian Cause Célèbre.

But first, some history?

In 1988, and then again in 1990, a few entrepreneurs got together and decided that music lovers would rather pay for good radio than listen to bad radio for free. The public agreed, to a point, but the listener base never grew large enough to pay for their costly marketing skirmish. Both sides adopted an If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em mentality, and in early 2005 rumors of a merger began.

John Ashcroft (yes, that John Ashcroft), fresh from his stint as a historically unpopular Attorney General, seemed to intuit that little would be more lucrative than a protracted lobbying war. Representing his newly-minted lobbying firm, he approached satellite radio first, offering his advocacy for the merger. He knew something then which the rest of us did not: the FCC was absolutely spoiling for a review of this case. Or maybe he was simply trying to prolong his singer-songwriter career:

So come, now. You’re the founder and CEO of the Revolution in Radio. What do you do?

Mr. Ashcroft turned then to the National Association of Broadcasters, who accepted his offer to advocate the opposing viewpoint, i.e. lobby against the merger. The NAB, while representing Big Tone Deaf, isn’t exactly stupid. What was good for satellite radio (the merger, natch) was bad for terrestrial radio. That matrimony forged in Perdition resulted in this letter. Money quote:

The most effective way to keep our markets free from unnecessary government regulations is to promote and ensure that vigorous competition is enhanced and fostered. In making enforcement judgments, the government should always be mindful that the ultimate objective of the antitrust laws is to maximize the value and benefit that enterprises offer to customers.

In other words, “We need more central planning so we can cut back on all this awful central planning.”

(Hey, he wanted to advocate for the merger, but XM and Sirius never returned his phone calls. That letter was going to be much better!)

His replacement and former jefe’s place mat Alberto Gonzales must have appreciated the inverted logic anyway, because the rest is history. Which brings us to Patrick’s post, and to the news today, oh boy!

I submit this with no further comment. Whether Sirius XM Radio lives or dies was never in our hands. We pay our subscription dues annually and try not to complain about service outages. But the FCC had no business reviewing the merger in the first place, took way too much time reviewing, besides, and the terms of the approval were both excessive and arbitrary.

Do the rest of you XM Radio veterans feel invaded upon? Sirius DJs blather on and on about nothing, and their names are weird. Their stations are stuck in The Killers+Radiohead+ Coldplay groupthink, and clearly believe that playing MGMT constitutes “branching out.” Technical issues abound and, I’m sorry, Arcade Fire is not strictly a Canadian band any longer.

Anyone who didn’t expect a decline in quality and service hasn’t been reading the news. But if I hear “Spaceman” one more time I might have to pick up my ball and go home.

Liberty Media Corp. has just announced that it will invest $530 million in XM Sirius radio in order to help salvage what is left of the satellite radio company.  Liberty Media’s involvement could make for an interesting power struggle with EchoStar, who appeared to be throwing money at XM Sirius from a dark corner in hopes that when they did fall EchoStar would be there to catch them and take over. You can read the entire article here

At this point XM Sirius radio as an individual entity is unsalvageable. EchoStar or Liberty Media might buy it out right and keep the name but as it stands XM Sirius, as it is known today, will not last much longer. I don’t know much about entrepreneurship but I do know that the purpose of owning a business is to make a profit which neither XM or Sirius have ever done. I call that a hobby.

My one question, that the two smarter tMiM contributors will have to answer, is if XM Sirius is bought by Liberty Media or EchoStar are the terms of the merger null and void?

So go get some popcorn because this is going to be an interesting and LONG ordeal.

(Fellow tMiMers Patrick and Fred also sound off about Sirius XM here and here.)

Here’s an article that was published a little over a year ago on Wired.com that prematurely predicted a boom in HD Radio.  With the impending demise of Sirus XM, maybe the time is now ripe for AM and FM radio to finally enter the digital age.

Or not.  Some experts predict that good old analog FM will be around for another decade and that its proponents, especially the ones in the accounting  department (analog is a much cheaper format than digital), will be dragged into the digital age kicking and screaming.

But first, some history?

In 1988, and then again in 1990, a few entrepreneurs got together and decided that music lovers would rather pay for good radio than listen to bad radio for free. The public agreed, to a point, but the listener base never grew large enough to pay for their costly marketing skirmish. Both sides adopted an If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em mentality, and in early 2005 rumors of a merger began.

John Ashcroft (yes, that John Ashcroft), fresh from his stint as a historically unpopular Attorney General, seemed to intuit that little would be more lucrative than a protracted lobbying war. Representing his newly-minted lobbying firm, he approached satellite radio first, offering his advocacy for the merger. He knew something then which the rest of us did not: the FCC was absolutely spoiling for a review of this case. Or maybe he was simply trying to prolong his singer-songwriter career:

So come, now. You’re the founder and CEO of the Revolution in Radio. What do you do?

Mr. Ashcroft turned then to the National Association of Broadcasters, who accepted his offer to advocate the opposing viewpoint, i.e. lobby against the merger. The NAB, while representing Big Tone Deaf, isn’t exactly stupid. What was good for satellite radio (the merger, natch) was bad for terrestrial radio. That matrimony forged in Perdition resulted in this letter. Money quote:

The most effective way to keep our markets free from unnecessary government regulations is to promote and ensure that vigorous competition is enhanced and fostered. In making enforcement judgments, the government should always be mindful that the ultimate objective of the antitrust laws is to maximize the value and benefit that enterprises offer to customers.

In other words, “We need more central planning so we can cut back on all this awful central planning.”

(Hey, he wanted to advocate for the merger, but XM and Sirius never returned his phone calls. That letter was going to be much better!)

His replacement and former jefe’s place mat Alberto Gonzales must have appreciated the inverted logic anyway, because the rest is history. Which brings us to Patrick’s post, and to the news today, oh boy!

I submit this with no further comment. Whether Sirius XM Radio lives or dies was never in our hands. We pay our subscription dues annually and try not to complain about service outages. But the FCC had no business reviewing the merger in the first place, took way too much time reviewing, besides, and the terms of the approval were both excessive and arbitrary.

Sirius & XM are not solely to blame for the demise of the two companies, the FCC dealt the final blow by setting up unrealistic restrictions that Sirius XM had to agree to in order for the FCC to approve the merger. These terms, spelled out well on the now defunct August Filet, set the companies up for delayed failure.

Neither company has ever turned a profit independently and is dragging a $3.25 billion debt with them, $575 million of which is owned by Echo Star, the TV satellite company that appears to be laying in wait to buy up Sirius XM when they do file chapter 11, which is expected later this week.

Fortunately there appears to be no plans to interrupt broadcasting at this time but who knows what will happen down the road.