The Federal Communications Commission released late Thursday the
itinerary for its May 14 meeting, and while it offers a bright spot for wireless carriers that missed out during the last spectrum auction, it seems the $13 billion merger of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. remains in limbo.
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FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had initially hoped he could complete his XM-Sirius review by the end of March. But he didn't anticipate that the Department of Justice would take as long as it did with its review (it approved the deal with no conditions in March). Martin had hoped commissioners would vote on the deal at the agency's May 14 meeting. But in a press conference with reporters Thursday afternoon, Martin released the items scheduled for the agency meeting, and the XM-Sirius deal wasn't there. Commissioners could still vote on the deal without a meeting, but typically with controversial transactions Martin likes have a vote take place at an agency public meeting.
Martin did announce that the agency will at the May meeting consider how to reauction a spectrum license known as the D Block. The winner of this auction would have to share with public safety users such as local police and fire departments. It received only one offer in an auction that that ended last month. That bid was scrapped because it was well below the government's $1.3 billion reserve price.
He added that the agency's inspector general has completed his investigation into whether the winner of the D Block would have had to make potentially exorbitant payments to Cyren Call, an adviser to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, which oversees compliance with public safety conditions. Some suspect the potential liability killed financing arrangements of Frontline Wireless LLC, a startup of former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt that was supposed to be a key bidder. By one estimate, Frontline was expected to pay $500 million over 10 years to lease the spectrum from the trust. Martin added that he hopes to make the inspector's investigation public in the coming weeks. The commission will also look at whether it needs to revise how the Public Safety Spectrum Trust operates. - Ron Orol
See the FCC May 14 meeting agenda (pdf)
See TheDeal.com: FCC to hold up XM-Sirius beyond walk date
See TheDeal.com: Trouble in the D block
See TheDeal.com: Verizon, EchoStar spectrum winners
Ron Orol is a Washington-based reporter for The Deal and author of Extreme Value Hedging: How Activist Hedge Fund Managers Are Taking on the World.
