In the Sirius-XM Merger I Trust

"There are other alternatives out there. We just simply found that the evidence didn't indicate that it would harm consumers."

These are the words of Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett, and what he is talking about is the Justice Department's just-approved merger of the only two commercial-free, subscription-only radio corporations: XM and Sirius.

I am intrigued by this merger. Not only am I a former (and soon to be again) satellite radio customer (I had Sirius-in my opinion they have...er, had...better music choices, but otherwise they and XM were virtually identical), but what's more I listened just yesterday as one of the most prominent talk show hosts and political authors in the United States-a man I have the utmost respect for and whom I typically find to be penetratingly thoughtful, often profoundly insightful, and blessedly straightforward-lambasted the deal as the result of a do-nothing W Administration permitting the formation of a monopoly-an entity that is clearly (said he) an abdominal enemy of authentic capitalism, which thrives in very large measure on competition.

While this host and author is so intelligent that he is transcendent of political labels, he would rightly be described as someone who is predominantly Conservative. His hatred of just about everything the Leftist Liberals say and believe is beyond the shadow of doubt and vociferous.

Nevertheless, I found him echoing the predictable sentiments of the Left in his concern over the supposed creation of some Radio Trust.

Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin--a Democrat, of course, and chairman of the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on antitrust and consumer rights, derided the Justice Department's permission of the signing of the deal that merges XM and Sirius into one (and, for now, the one and only) satellite radio corporation.

"We believe the elimination of competition between XM and Sirius is contrary to antitrust law and the interests of consumers,"said he.

I am always amused when a Democrat talks about the bests interests of the consumer or the citizens of the U.S. However, since this is an opportunity to talk about the Left's great respect for The Law and, even more importantly, some red meat to chew from the table of the Cheney...er, I mean, W Administration, it come as no surprise that Senator Kohl said what he said.

However, what nobody seems to care about is the fact that the satellite radio buying public has been, by a good margin, happy about the prospects of this merger since at least this past summer. What's more, the public is much more disturbed by the stranglehold that the National Association of Broadcasters has over the traditional radio broadcast industry than it is by this new merger, which it generally sees as good, hard competition for the NAB.

The satellite-delivery system and commercial-free subscription format of the new corporation cannot be said to be a monopoly. It is a new format, and a more competitive one at that (including in this writer's opinion), of delivering radio programs to consumers. If there were only, say, one company in the United States producing electric guitars, that company would not be a monopoly-because it would not be the only guitar producing company. It would only be producing a different kind of guitar, a kind that competes with acoustic guitars.

And, just as really did happen with the electric guitar, so will happen with the satellite radio business. Soon enough the SiriXMus corporation will have other satellite companies competing with it.

In the meanwhile, consumers can choose between advertisement-riddled radio with limited choices, commercial-free public radio with Leftist Liberal biases that such stations routinely deny, or commercial-free subscription radio with enough choices to almost make one insane.

You've got to be out of your mind if you believe that the management from two formerly struggling corporations who rely on subscriptions vs. advertising for their very lifeblood is going to try to screw the consumers with stratospheric pricing. They can't. They have no incentive to do so. They are competing--with the NAB.

As a consumer, I know which I find to be in my best interests. Do you?