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David Bank and Ryan Wineyard of RBC Capital Markets last Thursday gave the XM/Sirius merger a 50 percent chance of success, saying the odds applied both to the upcoming DOJ ruling, expected in the next two months, and the FCC decision, which is expected sometime before year’s end.
Meanwhile, Bank of America’s Jonathan Jacoby has lowered his odds of merger success to 30 percent, writes MediaPost.
The RBC analysts say the most important issue regarding the merger is “market definition, which we continue to believe should be broadly defined.” That definition refers to the competitive arena in which satellite broadcasters operate. If the market is defined simply as satellite radio, it is more likely that regulators would refuse to allow the merger, but if the market is defined as including MP3 players, streaming radio via the internet and HD radio, it is more likely that the merger will go through.
BofA’s Jacoby says Sirius and XM’s legal filing, which was in favor of reversing the regulatory statute from a decade ago that prevents them from merging, was weak and unconvincing.
All sectors of the media business will suffer from the weakened economy in 2008 and 2009, with a slump in local advertising particularly hurting newspapers and local TV, according to a new projection from Goldman Sachs.
Broadcast nets will experience…
The New York Times is shuttering its International Herald Tribune site; NYTimes.com will soon host the international news normally reserved for its sister website.
The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller…
Unilever’s Vaseline set forth on an unusual research project in a small town in Alaska. Setting up a storefront, the company began giving away free bottles of lotion and asking recipients to name the person who had recommended they come…
Meet the Press, the show hosted by Tim Russert for 17 years before his death last June, is beginning to slip in ratings.
Last month, CBS’s Face the Nation pulled ahead of Meet the Press for the first time in two…
Bloggers collectively create nearly one million blog posts each day, and half of bloggers believe blogs will be a primary source of news and entertainment in the next five years, according to Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, MarketingCharts writes.…
Wal-Mart and Costco reported same-store gains in September, with sales rising 2.4% and 9% respectively. Sales at Target stores open at least a year fell 3%, writes Retailer Daily.
Below, fiscal results from the discount retail giants:
Sales of food and…
