FCC Blocking Innovation For Over A Year Now

Conn Carroll / February 20, 2008

Currently it is just about impossible to listen to both Major League Baseball and National League Football games on your radio. Sirius Satellite Radio has a deal to broadcast all NFL games on their satellite system and MLB has a similar deal with XM. Unless you want to buy equipment for and pay monthly fees to receive both services you must choose one sport or the other (and if you choose the NFL through Sirius you can’t listen to Pac-10, SEC, ACC, or Big 10 football or basketball). Now the free market has been trying to solve this problem for consumers for just over a year now. February 19 is the first birthday of the announced merger between Sirius and XM. The deal would allow sports fans to listen to their favorite teams anywhere they wanted.

The FCC has pledged to review mergers in 180 days but they have obviously failed sports fans this time around. Arguments from the National Association of Broadcasters that this merger would harm consumers are laughable. The market for audio entertainment is incredibly diverse, competitive, and growing. Witness the explosion of iPods and other Mp3 players into the market in recent years. The FCC ought to get out of the way of the free market and approve this merger.