Gigi testified yesterday for the second time on the XM-Sirius merger. This time, the venue was the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee.
We maintained, as we did before the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Task Force in February, that if the merger passed antitrust scrutiny then consumers could benefit if certain conditions were applied.
Gigi's oral statement is here:
Her written statement is here:
Written testimony from other witnesses is here:
The hearing didn't attract many members, but the Subcommittee Chairman, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), was very skeptical of the deal, fearing a monopoly in future years. The senior Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), took a different view, saying that the combined satellite radio company would face lots of competition. The only other Senator attending the hearing, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), focused his questions on the adult programming offered by satellite services and the dangers of pornography.
The Washington Post's story on the hearing is here: