THE DROP just got word that media giants and satellite radio competitors, XM radio and Sirius, have come to an agreement to merge their companies. The merger still has to be confirmed by the Trade commission but reports are good that the merger will go through without a hitch.

Doesn’t this qualify as a monopoly? We asked the very same question. It looks as though the merger will be defined as a radio provider so they will be an option for consumers, along side internet radio and traditional terrestrial radio on the AM and FM frequencies. Which is a good thing that radio is being defined across frequencies and not being viewed as a specific bandwith.

The merger itself is being described as “both companies come together with equal stock”. What is unknown at this time is what the new company will be calling itself and some of the finer details in the merging of these two companies. In the move from AM/FM to Satellite the big dog now has 14 million subscribers paying approx. 13 dollars to not hear commercials (Take that Clear Channel!!)

This kind of merger has been in the rumor mill for the past 6-10 months and I think it really benefits the consumer, because now the big companies aren’t splitting hairs over what station is bigger - they can focus on better programming and making the medium as a whole much better. We’ll report back as we get more details on this development.