Thursday, December 07, 2006

XM's Parsons: No Basis For Regulatory Hurdles If Merger

XM: No basis for regulatory hurdles if merger
Dec 7, MarketWatch

XM Satellite Radio Chairman Gary Parsons said Thursday if it and rival Sirius Satellite Radio wanted to merge, regulators would have no basis to think the combination would endanger competition in the radio industry. "We are operating in a much larger marketplace than satellite radio ... The competition is predominantly terrestrial radio," Parsons told a gathering at the annual Credit Suisse Media & Telecom Week conference in New York. At this time, Parsons said, "there's no urgency" for XM to merge with Sirius, as the companies are "doing a good job" of exploiting the market for satellite radio. The executive said retail sales of XM radios do look weaker than those of last year's fourth quarter, when the imminent arrival of Howard Stern at Sirius raised overall awareness of satellite radio and fueled sign-ups.
Parsons said that the ongoing enhancement of XM products would provide new retail markets to pursue, and help increase overall retail sales. (Corrects name
and title of XM executive.)
posted by ssg5