Now that the Justice Department has approved the proposed merger of XM and Sirius, all eyes turn to the Federal Communications Commission, which is under pressure to place conditions on the merger before issuing the government's final approval.

Consumer groups want the commission to ensure that the merged company offers as much choice as possible to consumers, and doesn't run up prices once it is a satellite radio monopoly.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Public Knowledge, a consumer group in Washington, D.C., called on the commission "to impose conditions that serve the interests of consumers."

Specifically, the group said the following conditions should be placed on the proposed combination.

• The new company should make available pricing choices such as a la carte or tiered programming;
• The new company should make 5% of its channel capacity available to noncommercial educational and informational programming over which it has no editorial control;
• The new company should agree not to raise prices for its combined programming package (as opposed to each individual company's current programming package) for three years after the merger is approved; and
• The new company should make the technical specifications of its devices and network open and available to allow device manufacturers to develop, and consumers to use, any device they choose without interference. Pursuant to Commission rules, these devices must be certified by the FCC for receiving signals on the frequencies licensed to the merged entity and be subject to a minimum "do-no-harm" requirement.

At a press conference last week, F.C.C. Chairman Kevin Martin said he had asked his staff to begin preparing a set of options to address possible conditions on the merger.

Now that the Justice Department has signed off, a ruling could come at any time, though Martin is reported to have said a decision is not likely to come before the end of the first quarter.

Although the F.C.C. had no comment on the Justice Department's ruling, Martin has said in the past that any approval faces a "high hurdle."

Meanwhile, opponents of the merger denounced the Justice Department's decision.

"If this is what our competition cops do, we might as well close shop and save taxpayers a few hundred million dollars because they're not doing their jobs," Gene Kimmelman, of the Consumer's Union told the Associated Press.

Senator Herb Kohl, the Wisconsin Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on antitrust, released a statement saying the merger would create a satellite radio monopoly and asking the F.C.C. to block it.

"We are particularly disturbed by this decision, given the Justice Department's record in recent years of failing to oppose numerous mergers which reduced competition in key industries, resulting in the Justice Department not bringing a single contested merger case in nearly four years," Kohl said.

by Sam Gustin