Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.’s $4.57 billion purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. faces opposition from regulators, legislators and other broadcasters, Bloomberg News reports.
The deal, announced Monday, would combine the only satellite radio services and thus might be banned under U.S. antitrust laws. “The companies would need to demonstrate that consumers would clearly be better off with both more choice and affordable prices,” U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
“If the market is defined to include terrestrial radio – including High-Definition radio, Internet radio and MP3 players – then we believe the deal will be approved,” Credit Suisse analyst Bryan Kraft, who rates Sirius “outperform,” wrote in a note to investors today.
Described as a merger of equals, the deal would give investors 4.6 shares of Sirius common stock for each XM share they hold. Shareholders of each would own about half the combined company. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin would be the new company’s CEO and XM chairman Gary Parsons, its chairman.
