After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the [Department of Justice's Antitrust] Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers. The Division reached this conclusion because the evidence did not show that the merger would enable the parties to profitably increase prices to satellite radio customers for several reasons, including: a lack of competition between the parties in important segments even without the merger; the competitive alternative services available to consumers; technological change that is expected to make those alternatives increasingly attractive over time; and efficiencies likely to flow from the transaction that could benefit consumers.

Read the full statement by the Department of Justice.

Is this good news for XM and Sirius subscribers? I imagine most of the exclusive content the two stations carry will be made available to the combined sets of subscribers, while some content will be dropped. There will presumably be a substantial reduction in the number of music channels as XM and Sirius offers many such channels that are more or less overlapping.

Will, as the Antitrust Division speculates, the merger result in lower prices for equipment, or will receivers cost more, at least in the short run, to finance whatever technological solution is required to make merged programming available to both XM and Sirius subscriber bases?

More to come.

It is quite possible that the two jocks won’t return at all. NY1 reports that CBS radio canned two other shock jocks on terrestrial radio for making prank calls to Chinese restaurants that angered Asian-American organizations. The firings came after the to two jocks had been suspended.

Germain Lussier at Times Herald-Record doesn’t like the clamp down on shock jocks.

Although it’s clear that I love satellite radio, it’s equally clear that most everybody else doesn’t. I recently bought a new car, supposedly “with XM.” The salesman had no clue if there was actually an XM receiver built into the car, and neither did his manager. Finally, three people later, I found out that my system is “XM ready,” and they still couldn’t tell me how to get XM in the car (I just needed a plug-and-play tuner connected to the Aux input). If I can’t figure out how to get XM, how could the average consumer? Clearly, satellite radio isn’t winning any popularity contests.

He then lists the main reasons for why he thinks that is. Among them are HD radio, iPods and lackluster satellite radio receivers.

It is a bit strange that XM and Sirius have created premium-priced services without providing their premium content with premium distribution.

1) Repetitive playlists. The downside with channels that cater to your musical preferences is that your likely to hear the same songs over and over again. I’m not sure how to avoid this problem. I often listen to online radio broadcasts of commercial or non-profit terrestrial radio stations and even the most alternative stations flal into the same trap of playing the same songs over and over.

2) Annoying DJs. Radio DJs are too much like televisions sports commentator. They talk too much.

3) Lousy reception. While Duprey thinks XM does OK, he finds Sirius’s coverage spotty.

Sirius ended 2006 with 6 million subscribers, up from 3.3 million a year earlier.

More here.

[Update: Barron's has a blog post with more numbers, analysis, and comments from XM's conference call. You can listen to the conference call here.]

Skylar Sutton says the merger won’t happen, based on law and facts.

XM-subscriber and audiophile John Caldwell wants the satellite radio companies to substantially improve the sound quality of their programs. He also provides XM and Sirius with three straightforward suggestions, two of which strike me as quite unrealistic (satellite rdio not calling itsel radio? Come on!).

Amy Gilroy brings us retailers’ rection to the proposed merger in This Week In Consumer Electronics:

The proposed XM and Sirius merger received a generally favorable reception by industry members, under the proviso that steps are taken to prevent market confusion near term.

Several retailers and suppliers, while encouraged by the benefits of a united satellite radio company, said consumer confusion could hamper sales of current satellite radio receivers.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin was a guest on Howard Stern’s show today, reports FMQB. Among other things, Karmazin insisted that the deal in fact is a 50-50 merger, in spite of claims to the contrary by business reporters who have analyzed available documents.

Michael Benidt at Hidden Business Treasures has doubts about the entire enterprise:

The XM/Sirius story last week was big news, but I’m not really sure why.

For a lot of “oldies” listeners these days, they couldn’t care less about such changes on their radio dials, or in the atmosphere. Nope, they’re getting their music from their computers.

But as a commenter points out, that’s not an option when you’re driving your car and it probably won’t be for years to come.