In a stinging rebuke to Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin, National Association of Broadcasters CEO David Rehr encouraged the radio barron wannabee to stop trying to push the deal through. He further accused Karmazin of making it look like the public would benefit from the deal, when in reality it wouldn't.
Karmazin has alleged throughout the merger attempt that it would end up in customers being offered more choiced with little added cost.
Contrary to that, Rehr said there is no other reason for the merger than to cover up the horrendous business decisions like the outrageous price they paid for Howard Stern.
"We believe that the proposed merger is simply a request for a government bailout for operational and financial missteps that have depressed stock prices and in turn investors," Rehr wrote. "Any gains resulting from a merger of Sirius and XM will largely accrue to Wall Street and the companies' executives and not African-American, Latino or other programrs or consumers. Accordingly, we respectfully urge Sirius (SIRI) and XM (XMSR) to withdraw their application in the best interests of consumers and competition."
The personal communication was unusual for the leader of a trade organization during this type of dispute, but it was prompted by comments that Karmazin made at a Lehman Bros. conference where he called the broadcaster lobby "disgraceful," and alleged that they were bankrolling studies and groups to make it look like it would be bad for consumers if the merger were to be allowed.
Even if there were behind-the-scenes agendas in this case, it really has no relevance to whether this merger should be allowed. If anything would become a monopoly clearly in this country, it would be the only two existing players in a field that merge. What else would you call it?
I agree. I do believe this is being pushed so hard because of the terrible deals struck by these two competitors to try to get the advantage at the cost of both companies. They simply couldn't afford to pay what they offered the various celebrities they hired.
Now they're left with trying to salvage an industry that may be better to just let go under.
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