CASPER
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SkyBOX: Gunning for Godot
by Evie Haskell
The Sirius/XM saga continues ... and Samuel Beckett would have been proud. How else could one possibly explain the multilayered, seemingly endless, government-by-the-absurd tragicomedy that is the attempted satellite radio merger?
In the latest act, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein has brilliantly demonstrated the corruptive nature of power. The situation sets up like this: The DARS duo needs three FCC votes in order to merge; they've got two already. The presumptive third "yea" could come from Republican Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. However, Ms Tate's likely ideological approval of the merger is mightily hampered by her close ties to the broadcasting industry. (A special interest plot line if ever there was one.)
So Adelstein, a long-time critic of big-get-bigger media plays and thus a natural "no" vote, has jumped into the fray. At the end of last week, the Democratic Commissioner told the AP that he could certainly back the merger IF ... get ready for the gun now ... IF the companies (1) promise not to raise rates for six years; (2) give up a quarter of their capacity for public interest and minority programming; and (3) meet other miscellaneous conditions. (Like building all their radios to accommodate their competitors.)
Let's just consider point No. 2: Giving up a QUARTER of their capacity. That's about 75 channels, more than triple the number of giveaways proposed by Sirius and XM. So can you hear the giggles in the halls of the NAB over this one? Can you see Ms. Tate swooning in relief? Can you imagine the DARS duo - who, let's not forget, paid more than $80 million each for their DARS licenses, to say nothing of the costs of constructing the systems - actually agreeing to hand out a quarter of their holdings?
I sure can't. But then by the end of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" the two main characters are listlessly considering suicide. So hey, you never know.
by Evie Haskell
The Sirius/XM saga continues ... and Samuel Beckett would have been proud. How else could one possibly explain the multilayered, seemingly endless, government-by-the-absurd tragicomedy that is the attempted satellite radio merger?
In the latest act, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein has brilliantly demonstrated the corruptive nature of power. The situation sets up like this: The DARS duo needs three FCC votes in order to merge; they've got two already. The presumptive third "yea" could come from Republican Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. However, Ms Tate's likely ideological approval of the merger is mightily hampered by her close ties to the broadcasting industry. (A special interest plot line if ever there was one.)
So Adelstein, a long-time critic of big-get-bigger media plays and thus a natural "no" vote, has jumped into the fray. At the end of last week, the Democratic Commissioner told the AP that he could certainly back the merger IF ... get ready for the gun now ... IF the companies (1) promise not to raise rates for six years; (2) give up a quarter of their capacity for public interest and minority programming; and (3) meet other miscellaneous conditions. (Like building all their radios to accommodate their competitors.)
Let's just consider point No. 2: Giving up a QUARTER of their capacity. That's about 75 channels, more than triple the number of giveaways proposed by Sirius and XM. So can you hear the giggles in the halls of the NAB over this one? Can you see Ms. Tate swooning in relief? Can you imagine the DARS duo - who, let's not forget, paid more than $80 million each for their DARS licenses, to say nothing of the costs of constructing the systems - actually agreeing to hand out a quarter of their holdings?
I sure can't. But then by the end of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" the two main characters are listlessly considering suicide. So hey, you never know.