FCC Extends Deadline For Sirius XM To Lease Channels

[jwt873]

I wonder what channels Sirius-XM will drop when they are eventually forced to lease the bandwidth?
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Radio Ink - The Voice of Radio Revolution

WASHINGTON -- December 1, 2008: Sirius XM Radio had until November 28 -- four months after the XM-Sirius merger that created the company was approved by the FCC -- to lease 4 percent of their channels to qualfied third parties, but the FCC's Media Bureau has now, on its own motion, extended that deadline to February 27, 2009.

As a condition of their merger, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio voluntarily agreed to put 4 percent of their full-time channels in the hands of qualified third parties through long-term leases or other agreements.

The FCC said in an order released Friday, however, that in light of commenters' concerns about the mechanics of the lease administration and the FCC's own commitment to determine the details of the lease condition "at a later date," it now needs to extend the deadline to give the commission time to work out exactly how the condition will be implemented.

 

[Grüpsaar]

Hopefully it's Book radio, cosmo, and playboy

 

[JoeTan]

exactly

 

[Jleimer]

Hopefully they do not drop any good music channels.

 

[secrecyguy]

This might actually be a good thing, I could see some radio stations to go after those channels so they can broadcast on satellites.

 

[me_rubin]

The deadline was extended until Feb 27 2009.

Radio Ink - The Voice of Radio Revolution

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

They would likey drop minority or public access channels (spanish channels, NPR, etc.).

 

[limegrass69]

They could also drop the Korean channel, or maybe some of the Canadian channels off of the US lineup.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

They could also drop the Korean channel, or maybe some of the Canadian channels off of the US lineup.

Since they still need to provide the Canadian channels as a part of the bandwidth dropping them wouldn't do anything. Ironically the Korean channel is a Canadian channel.

 

[ctkatz]

i say lease out some of the minority channels already on the service. i can think of the power on xm would be perfect for this.

 

[GoodDog]

Traffic channels

 

[secrecyguy]

What they should do is auction the channels out to radio stations. That way, they will be able to make some extra money from it. I am sure several radio stations will pay good money to have their radio stations to broadcast on the satellites.

 

[limegrass69]

What they should do is auction the channels out to radio stations. That way, they will be able to make some extra money from it. I am sure several radio stations will pay good money to have their radio stations to broadcast on the satellites.

Why would a radio station want to lease out a channel on satellite? For the most part, radio stations are generic and most mainstream formats can be found in any given city.

Plus, as a condition of the merger, Sirius XM needs to lease out the spectrum to programmers who are going to provide service to "underserved minority" groups (whatever that means). They can't just lease the spectrum out to the highest bidder.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Why would a radio station want to lease out a channel on satellite? For the most part, radio stations are generic and most mainstream formats can be found in any given city.

Plus, as a condition of the merger, Sirius XM needs to lease out the spectrum to programmers who are going to provide service to "underserved minority" groups (whatever that means). They can't just lease the spectrum out to the highest bidder.

Sirius XM does not have any say in who the spectrum goes to. That control belongs to the FCC. I think the only control they would have is a channel number. I am not even entirely clear if Sirius XM gets paid for this spectrum.

 

[Derek]

The most niche music channels left. Candidates include:
40s on 4, The Village, Bluegrass, SiriusXMU (but why on earth would they take away a rock channel?), The Groove, Broadway, Cinemagic, Area

 

[nightowl]

Sirius XM does not have any say in who the spectrum goes to. That control belongs to the FCC. I think the only control they would have is a channel number. I am not even entirely clear if Sirius XM gets paid for this spectrum.

Get paid? Nope. They are being required to give that spectrum for underserved groups. Now, they might be able to not lose money on those channels, by having the programmer pay the uplink costs, but that would be about it.

 

[jwt873]

The deal was that they lease channel space. That implies that they will be paid for it.

An outfit called Georgetown Partners with the backing of Jesse Jackson brought up this lease idea during the merger negotiations.

They wanted as much as 20% of the combined Siri/XM spectrum. Their plan was to provide free channels (no subscription required) and to make money from advertising.

Whether Georgetown does get a lease or not remains to be seen. Many aspects of the merger remain unclear for subscribers and shareholders.

 

[limegrass69]

The deal was that they lease channel space. That implies that they will be paid for it.

That's what I thought the deal was, but I seem to be outnumbered.
A lease implies a payment or some other sort of compensation. It might have to be break-even sort of thing, but I never assumed it was a freebie.

 

[VinnyM27]

Hopefully it's Book radio, cosmo, and playboy

Unfortunately it won't be and I would imagine EVEN MORE music channels go on the chopping block! Playboy is shit and if we are paying for that, there is a problem! Isn't Playboy as a magazine not even doing so hot?

Getting rid of more music....you know that's what is going to happen!

 

[hexagram]

Whether Georgetown does get a lease or not remains to be seen. Many aspects of the merger remain unclear for subscribers and shareholders.

As long as they don't give any spectrum to them and they only mess with the minority channels that are already in place, then I'm 100% OK with this.