Why iPhone Shows the Folly of the FCC Worrying About XM-Sirius

Kevin Maney looks at the bigger picture: OK, so the FCC after 17 months(!) seems finally ready to approve the merger between the two satellite radio companies, XM and Sirius. Regulators have a concern that there will be no competitors left in the satellite radio industry. But, if you look not very far ahead, that's like worrying that there will be no competitors in the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream-making industry. Satellite radio has a lot of happy customers, but even today it's not even remotely the only way to pipe music and news into your car.

Besides regular radio and possible coming digital radio broadcasts, let's take a scenario that's taking form today. Already, owners of the new 3G iPhone are discovering the Internet radio -- especially the Pandora service -- work great on the device. That's a pretty compelling alternative to satellite radio. Plug your iPhone into your car stereo, define the music you want to hear, and you get streaming music -- and it's FREE.

Look, too, at the WiMax efforts by Sprint and its Clearwire partners. You'll have WiFi-like wireless Internet covering whole cities. It can't be long before you can buy a WiMax-enabled car stereo, which could tune in Pandora or Launch or any other streaming service. Again -- for FREE.

For cryin' out loud, let XM and Sirius merge. They're going to have enough trouble competing as a combined company.