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The National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO), a coalition of more than 200 women’s groups collectively representing 11 million-plus American women, came out in favor of the proposed merger between Sirius and XM. The national coalition last week issued a statement urging the Federal Communications Commission to approve the merger to create “a more affordable satellite radio market.”

Said Susan Scanlan, NCWO chair, “Satellite radio is a mere 3.4 percent of the overall radio market – a market dominated by men. A more affordable and more diverse satellite radio market would be valuable not only to our members, but also to women across the United States.”

One reason behind the group’s support for the merger is that the NCWO sees satellite radio as a home to a number of influential women. With figures like Judith Warner, Candace Bushnell, Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey, satellite radio offers women a unique perspective absent on terrestrial radio and previously only accessible on TV, the group said.

“Expanding the audience and diversity of satellite radio programming would give women a better opportunity to access new sources of entertainment and enlightenment,” Scanlan said. “Diversity in programming is a critical component of this merger, and should not be overlooked by members of the FCC as they begin their review process.”

One of the knocks on the proposed satellite radio merger is that a combined Sirius/XM would resemble a combined EchoStar/DIRECTV – an entity that kept regulators from approving the DBS merger in 2002. Now, a new study shows that there are clear differences between the two scenarios, and the failed attempts of DBS to merge should not be used as a barometer to judge against satellite radio’s attempts now.

According to the League of Rural Voters, a group that recently went public with its support of the merger, there are clear differences between the DBS market in 2002 when EchoStar and DIRECTV tried to merge and the expanding audio entertainment market today. In the EchoStar/DIRECTV case, the FCC determined that there were only two DBS providers, but “the commission’s review of the proposed merger in 2002 provides no guidance to the analysis applicable here.” Further, the League said, “this is because the product markets at issue in the two transactions are fundamentally different.”

The paper cites the 2002 FCC analysis of the EchoStar/DirecTV market, which narrowly defined each local market as the two DBS providers and the local cable provider. This is in contrast to the “broad and competitive audio entertainment market in which satellite radio competes,” a market that today includes terrestrial radio, internet radio, iPods and other MP3 players, CD players and mobile phones. The FCC also found there were significant barriers to entry in the DBS merger. “This concern is moot in the satellite radio market, given the multitude of other competitors that have already entered the field and the anticipated release of future competitors such as HD radio and the Apple iPhone,” the study said.

As far as the impact on rural consumers goes, the study said the narrow finding on the DBS product market gave rise to a number of concerns, including the reduction of viewpoint diversity and the creation of a monopoly in areas where there was no cable. “The FCC found that DBS operators contribute to viewpoint diversity by playing a ‘gatekeeper role’ that ‘clearly affects’ which entertainment and news programming is available,” the paper says. “The audio entertainment market does not present the same concern, since it includes many different providers/editors.”

Additionally, the league’s analysis said that the FCC’s concerns in the DBS case do not apply to satellite radio because of its small saturation in a rapidly growing market, noting “the proposed merger between XM and Sirius comes at a time of strong and growing competition… In fact, even a merged satellite radio provider would possess a slight market share and be constrained by the multiplicity of other media.”

RETAIL — For 21 consecutive months, Sirius has maintained an edge over rival XM with regards to retail sales, says a new study by NPD Group. The firm says Sirius held 55 percent of the satellite radio retail share during May, while XM netted 45 percent. The study said Sirius sales were down 22 percent year-over-year, while XM’s numbers sagged by 26 percent. Overall, the entire retail satellite radio sector is down 24 percent from last year, NPD Group said.

RADIO — A coalition of internet radio sites will participate in a “National Day of Silence” tomorrow as a way to mobilize supporters to urge Congress to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act. The legislation looks to correct an earlier ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board that will increase rates for internet radio so much that most would be forced to shut down. Yahoo!, MTV Online, Live365, Rhapsody and Accuradio are among the thousands of sites scheduled to go silent.

REGULATORY — The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau terminated its investigation into Telenor Satellite and whether the company violated certain sections of the Communications Act of 1934. The agency found there were no substantial problems with the matter and that the public interest would best be served by terminating the investigation.

RESEARCH — A new report from The NPD Group says Boston, New York, and Orlando are the top markets for GPS devices during the first quarter of 2007. According to the study, retailers in those cities sold more mobile navigation unites on a per store basis than those in any other of the country’s leading DMAs

SkyFILES: An Uneasy Milestone
by Michael Hopkins

FiOS TV from Verizon is nearing the half-million mark.

That was the message this week from the telco about its fiber-supported video product. In addition, the high-speed internet portion of the FiOS offering now reaches 1 million customers.

While cable is ready to address the threat with technology, and DBS is putting together competitive plans of its own with items like HDTV, there are those who never gave competitive telco video services a second thought. But take a look back a decade ago and one can find the cavalier attitude of some MSOs about satellite TV. In its infancy, cable executives mocked DBS with the phrase “don’t be stupid.”

And now, multiplatform competitors are being forced to pay attention to telco video. Just like the time when cable couldn’t ignore satellite TV any more, the wired incumbent (as well as dish-based services) are watching their backs.

How could this all work out? That’s anyone’s guess. But some thoughts:

* Verizon and AT&T have stated that they are happy with their respective DBS relationships. Satellite TV completes the triple play in areas where the telcos cannot offer video. But don’t expect this to last. Why share a video customer when a phone company can own the customer outright?

* Some cable executives should be shaking in their boots when it comes to FiOS TV’s successes to date. One MSO to watch is Cablevision, which already has the competing Verizon product passing nearly a quarter of its households. And FiOS TV is in some of the most affluent neighborhoods served by the New York area cable operator.

Half a million subscribers for FiOS TV is a significant milestone, one the company achieved in a year-and-a-half of service. And one has to wonder where those customers are coming from.

CABLE — Cablevision said it will add 15 new high-def channels from VOOM HD Networks, beginning June 26. The additions will bring Cablevision’s iO digital cable customers a total of 40 HD programming services – a number the cable company says is the most HD available anywhere in the nation, from any provider. The company also announced that by the end of this year it will have the capability to carry more than 500 channels of HD programming on its advanced fiber optic network.

In other cable HD news, Cox Communications, which now carries less than 20 HD channels, said it is aiming to expand its high-def capacity to 50 channels by year’s end. Cox president Pat Esser told attendees at an industry conference this week that the company hopes to have capacity for 100 HDTV channels by the end of 2009.

TECHNOLOGY — Sling Media said its SlingPlayer Mobile software client is now compatible with Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 operating system. SlingPlayer Mobile gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV from a network-enabled Windows Mobile powered device. With the announcement, SlingPlayer Mobile is now compatible with devices that run Windows Mobile 6 Standard and Professional editions, Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition