How strange. I wonder whether this will be permitted, in view of what happened to the Dish/DirecTV merger. Bert -------------------------------- Satellite radio rivals Sirius, XM to merge Mark LaPedus (02/19/2007 10:09 PM EST) URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197007242 SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. Monday (Feb. 19) agreed to acquire rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. for $4.57 billion in stock. Under the terms of the agreement, XM shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 4.6 shares of Sirius common stock for each share of XM they own. XM and Sirius shareholders will each own approximately 50 percent of the combined company. Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius, will become CEO of the combined company. Gary Parsons, currently chairman of XM, will become chairman of the combined company. Hugh Panero, the CEO of XM, will continue in his current role until the anticipated close of the merger. The new company's board of directors will consist of 12 directors, including Karmazin and Parsons, four independent members designated by each company, as well as one representative from each of General Motors and American Honda. The combination creates a nationwide audio entertainment provider with combined 2006 revenues of approximately $1.5 billion based on analysts' consensus estimates. Today the companies have approximately 14 million combined subscribers. Together, Sirius and XM will create a stronger platform for future innovation within the audio entertainment industry and will provide significant benefits to all constituencies, according to the companies. "We are excited for the many opportunities that an XM and Sirius combination will provide consumers," said Gary Parsons, Chairman of XM Satellite Radio and Hugh Panero, CEO of XM Satellite Radio, in a joint statement. "The combined company will be better positioned to compete effectively with the continually expanding array of entertainment alternatives that consumers have embraced since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first granted our satellite radio licenses a decade ago." "This combination is the next logical step in the evolution of audio entertainment," said Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio, in the same statement. The transaction is subject to approval by both companies' shareholders, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory review and approvals, including antitrust agencies and the FCC. Pending regulatory approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed by the end of 2007. All material on this site Copyright 2007 CMP Media LLC. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.