Not phrases you’d easily think of at the same time. But the current Congress (opposite of Progress according to Wil Rogers) has been holding up the potential merger of the two satellite companies (Sirius and XM) for over a year. They’ve held four hearings on the subject and have yet to produce a valid reason publicly why the merger should not take place (combined satellite represents about 4%-5% of the radio market).
Jim Cramer, yes that yelling stock guy, hit the nail on the head going after Congress on this topic. He actually shows that such rampant disregard for the free-market can essentially be bought for $6k-$10k per donor cycle per congressman. He actually names names and shows the donations from terrestrial radio to stop the merger or at least heavily suggest such.
So is it a coincidence that a handful of the Congressmen that sent a bipartisan letter opposing the merger to the FCC and Department of Justice also have accepted money from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) lobbying group?
Of the House Democrats, Cramer found out that Gene Green of Texas took $10,000 from NAB this cycle and another $6,000 in the 2006 cycle. Louise Slaughter from New York took a grand and put her name on the letter. South Carolina?s John Spratt got $2,000 from NAB this cycle and another $6,000 in 2006. On the Republican side there is Missouri?s Roy Blunt, the minority whip
who got $5,000 from NAB in 2006 and Tom Cole of Arizona who has taken
$2,500 this cycle and took another thousand last cycle.
One has to wonder why Congress is spending more time and effort to block this merger than it spends on hearings about the national energy policy. And it’s a lot less than the hundreds of thousands of dollars the NC League of Municipalities spends to lobby for the continuation of Forced Annexation.
This should concern folks far beyond the realm of choice in radio.
