Apparently it wasn't enough for National Public Radio (NPR) to file lengthy opposition statements in July and August with the Federal Communications Commission against the proposed XM/Sirius merger. On Wednesday, September 12th, an NPR Vice President met with assistants to three FCC Commissioners to reiterate public radio's call for a veto on the union of the two satellite radio services.

NPR's Mike Riksen told FCC staffers that "the SDARS [Satellite Digital Audio Radio service] market safeguard is a rule prohibiting the merger of the only two SDARS providers [XM and Sirius] and that it should neither be waived nor modified in this case."

What this means in non-eye glazing English is when the FCC authorized the SDARS service in 1997, the agency added a proviso that no single entity should be allowed to control all the allocated spectrum. NPR wants the FCC to stand fast to that rule.

The question is why National Public Radio , which doesn't file with the FCC all that much, has become so adamant and aggressive about this issue? NPR has offered a variety of arguments against the merger. LLFCC finds most convincing among them the fear that a united XM/Sirius will put it at a disadvantage on the satellite platform.

NPR programs two channels for Sirius. One of its briefs suggests that XM and Sirius's competitive relationship gave the service the edge when it came time to negotiate space for public radio in digital radio satellite-land:

"NPR believes it was able to enter into an exclusive arrangement with Sirius to provide 2 channels of programming because both parties perceived benefits in such an arrangement.18 NPR was able to develop programming for a new distribution platform in a way that clearly established NPR's SDARS identity. Sirius obtained a competitive advantage over its competitor, XM, as the exclusive SDARS source of NPR programming. If NPR were to become part of a mix of program producers on a 'public radio' channel, the value of the distribution channel would clearly be diminished, although the combined entity, as the sole source of SDARS programming, would continue to enjoy SDARS exclusivity. While there is no guarantee that NPR will be able to negotiate equally favorable, or even minimally acceptable terms, with either Sirius or XM in the event the Consolidated Application is denied, a monopoly provider of SDARS service would have a clear economic incentive and market opportunity to offer less favorable terms to NPR."

While there is no arguing with this self-interested narrative, less clear are NPR's latest arguments against the union, which come off more as vague observations than anything else:

"NPR emphasized that, as a program producer, it views the Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services ('SDARS') distribution platform as serving a distinct product market," Riksen told top aides to Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein, and Robert McDowell on Wednesday, "and that audience research confirms that public radio listeners who are SDARS subscribers do not treat public radio broadcasting and SDARS as substitutable services."

To support this . . . thesis (?), NPR forwarded a Walrus Research/Audiographics study on how public radio fans use satellite radio. Commissioned by the Radio Research Consortium, the February 2006 study concludes that:

• About 500,000 public radio listeners told Arbitron that they listened to XM or Sirius radio in 2005. To put it more precisely: "Two in one-hundred public radio listeners also listen to XM or Sirius."
• Public radio's stagnant audience growth cannot be attributed to the rise of XM and Sirius. "Even the most aggressive assumptions show that 'time lost to XM and Sirius' can account for no more than a one-quarter of one percent decline in listening between 2003 and 2005."
• In fact: "If XM and Sirius are cannibalizing anything among our listeners, it is their listening to commercial radio."

If anything, these statistics demonstrate a rather marginal relationship between satellite and public radio, at least at this point. Thus NPR's full court press against the XM/Sirius merger may come off to some as a bit heavy handed.

But like various public interest groups who have filed against the union, NPR says they are willing to accept the combination—under certain circumstances. Among public radio's conditions, that a merged XM/Sirius yield enough spectrum to permit a new SDARS entrant into the field.