Common Cause is DEAD WRONG on this issue!

I am both a member of Common Cause, and a Sirius subscriber.  I am VERY disturbed by Common Cause's knee-jerk reaction to this merger.  It shows that the organization clearly does not understand the companies or the technologies involved, and is being motivated more by dogma (no media consolidation, ever) than be reason.

Let's look at a couple simple facts:

1) Both satellite radio providers are losing money, after investing heavily in developing a brand new technology.  Investment in technology is always a good thing, and beneficial to consumers.  Being able to combine their knowledge and resources will only accelerate the development of said technology.  However if they don't merge, it is almost inevitable that at least one of the two companies will simply go out of business, slowing down the pace of technological development.  Furthermore, such an event would leave behind... yes, you guessed it, a de facto monopoly, only one less suited to serving their customers than if the merger had taken place.  Further, such an event is likely to trigger a buyout by a legitimate media giant, be it ClearChannel or Time Warner or what have you - and that's worse for everyone.

2) There is PLENTY of competition in place already, regardless of anything that either of these companies do.  There's FREE terrestrial radio, FREE HD radio, FREE podcasts.  All of these forms of media serve the same consumer in the same market segment.  Sirius and XM are putting forward a pay service to compete with free services - that's a pretty bold move.  To be successful, they'll have to come up with some really good content.  On the other side of the coin, the FREE content providers, if they feel they can't compete, can ONLY blame themselves for producing, frankly, awful content that no one wants to listen to.  Sounds to me like the very essence of healthy competition.

I will say again - Common Cause is DEAD WRONG on this issue.  This is an organization that I have supported whole-heartedly in the past.  But it's time to take a step back, take a deep breath, and actually pay attention to the facts.  I hope to see see Common Cause reversing its position on this in the coming days, or at the very least tempering it SIGNIFICANTLY.  If not, Common Cause will look foolish, dogmatic and ill-informed - all things that will not aid in its larger mission.