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Wow
ClearChannel has been working behind the scenes in a rather unsavory way to prevent the XM-Sirius merger from happening. I know ClearChannel is “evil” because it killed local radio years ago (I ask, who still listens to local radio, and why?), but its reliance on the government to protect its business is silly. Since when was it the government’s job to ensure your business is successful?
The national radio corp says XM-Sirius would have/already has too much spectrum. It says this threatens commercial, over-the-air radio, its bread and butter. It says you can’t go around saying XM-Sirius competes with every audio device (Note: Yes you can. I say it all the time.) because then that’d put regular radio under “intense competitive pressure” because things like iPods are unregulated. The fact is, I don’t listen to FM radio because I listen to an iPod. I’m pretty sure that’s called substitution, aka competition. ClearChannel also wants the XM-Sirius spectrum to tack on a HD Radio signal. Again, bail us and our friends out, government.
If you’ve read between the lines, you’ll notice that ClearChannel has a basic problem with the XM-Sirius spectrum. It shouldn’t surprise you, then, to learn that the whole point of its complaining to the FCC is to wrest some of that spectrum away. Classy.
Clear Channel continues anti-merger blitz [Orbitcast]
Source: Surrendering spectrum is the “end game” [Orbitcast]