President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters in the US, David K Rehr, has sent two letters to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding satellite radio companies XM and Sirius.
In his first letter, Rehr calls on the FCC to “immediately commence a full investigation into both the actual and reported operations of Sirius and XM’s terrestrial repeater networks.” XM and Sirius recently requested authorization to continue or resume operating terrestrial repeaters that were constructed and deployed inconsistently with FCC rules. “These latest disclosures reveal a persistent corporate (if not industry) circumvention of the FCC’s regulations,” Rehr told the FCC.
In a second letter, Rehr questions the “privileged regulatory position” enjoyed by satellite radio given “the expanding delivery of complimentary satellite radio services to nonsubscribers.” Noting a recent XM deal with Acura and the availability of Howard Stern’s show on the Internet free-of-charge, Rehr writes, “drawing a regulatory distinction between satellite and traditional broadcast radio simply because satellite radio content is available on a subscription basis may no longer be justified.”
(Source: National Association of Broadcasters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)