FCC Extends Deadline For Sirius XM To Lease Channels

[jwt873]

As part of the merger agreement, Sirius-XM agreed to give up bandwidth and lease it to public and 'special interest' broadcasting. While this is a Sirius-XM USA news story, when the leasing takes place, it may result in the loss of some existing Sirius and/or XM channels that might affect Canadian subscribers.

http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntr...&pt=todaysnews

FCC Extends Deadline For Sirius XM To Lease Channels

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.