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Department of Holy Shit

The WSJ just announced that Sirius and XM Radio are merging. Mel Karmazin will be CEO of the newly-unified company. Gary Parsons will be chairman. No word on what the new name will be.

The FCC is regarding this dubiously, due to anti-trust issues. The Journal goes on to say:

But the two sides are likely to argue that the proliferation of Internet-based radio, digital music players, and new HD-radio formats creates a vigorous competitive market for such media. Indeed, in surveys, consumers rarely can differentiate between the two companies, which have spent hundreds of millions trying to appeal to them.

For some in our trade, it's reminiscent of the time B&N tried to acquire Ingram Book Group. For others, of course, the analogy to Time Warner and AOL springs to mind. Says one industry insider, "These things never end well."
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