Skip navigation
MOST POPULAR RELATED TAGS
  • TOPICS
  • SECTORS
  • COMPANIES

MAD MONEY FEATURES

Podcasts PODCASTS
Watch the Lightning Round whenever and wherever you want.




Widget OFFICIAL MAD MONEY WIDGET
Grab this all-in-one application and get recaps of the show sent right to your desktop or blog.




Soundboard CRAMERS SOUNDBOARD
Admit it: You've always wanted to hit the "They
know nothing!" button. Here’s your chance.




Mad Money PhotosCHECK OUT OUR PHOTOS
Check out Cramer on set, back to school, behind the scenes and more.




ShopSHOP FOR MAD MERCHANDISE
Buy Cramer books, bobbleheads and other Mad Money merchandise.




Ringtones RING TONES
Pick up the phone! It's Cramer! New Mad Money sounds for your cell phone.




Mobile AlertTEXT MESSAGE ALERT
Mad Money's mobile. Get show highlights sent to your phone.







Font size:
Mar.24
7:25 PM ET
Monday, 24 Mar 2008
Cramer: Let XM and Sirius Merge

Finally, at long last, the Department of Justice has approved the XM-Sirius Satellite Radio merger. But the deal can’t go through unless the Federal Communications Commission also blesses it. But why wouldn’t they? After all, this is the same FCC that created Clear Channel. And if the feds have no problem with a company that collects 18% of all radio revenues, they shouldn’t mind a newly combined firm expected to control only 5% of the market.

At least that’s Cramer’s take on it. Clear Channel’s [CCU  Loading...      ()   ] had it easy compared to XM [XMSR  Loading...      ()   ] and SIRI [SIRI  Loading...      ()   ]. Sure, CCU’s had to swap or sell over 100 radio stations to make its deals go through, but those deals happened much faster. The Jacor Communications buyout: four months. AMFM: 10 months. XM-SIRI? Twelve months and counting. Plus, the feds’ want control of the new company’s pricing plans for an unspecified period of time. Maybe it’s time the FCC played fair.

Now, they did say they’d follow the Justice Department’s lead on the XM-SIRI merger, but Cramer’s not the type to sit and wait. So he urged viewers to call FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and demand that "K-Mart" push the deal through.

Now that the Justice Department did its part, “it’s up to the FCC,” Cramer said. “And it’s up to us to keep the pressure on so that this merger happens and happens now.”

Questions for Cramer?

Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website?

© 2008 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Permalink: /id/23782202

HOME  |  NEWS  |  MARKETS  |  EARNINGS  |  INVESTING  |  VIDEO  |  CNBC TV  |  CNBC PLUS  |  CNBC HD+
About CNBC   |   Site Map   |   Privacy Policy   |   Terms of Service   |   Advertise   |   Help   |   Feedback   |   Video Reprints
  Data is a real-time snapshot   *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes

Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis