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FCC Chair: Decision on ‘Extraordinary’ Satcaster Request May Come Soon

FCC chair Kevin Martin admits that the question of the proposed Sirius-XM merger has been in front of the commission for “a while,” and said he hopes to make a ruling on it “soon.”

In an interview on CNBC (via Radio Ink), Martin said that in attempting a merger, the two satcasters are asking for something that goes directly against a rule that the commission put into place when the two companies first got their licenses. In other words, the request is “extraordinary,” he said.

On the other hand, he pointed out that the companies have put forth several different public interest commitments that they would be willing to make, such as a la carte plans and a short-term cap on pricing.