The FCC has again extended the deadline by which Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio need to lease a percentage of their channels to third parties for minority programming.
As a condition of their merger agreement in July 2008 both Sirius and XM agreed to lease four percent each of their respective platforms, that’s no less than six channels each.
Since the merger, the commission and the merged Sirius XM have been wrangling with the mechanics of who would be qualified for the channels and how the leases would work. The commission has extended the deadline several times and said Friday it anticipates action on the implementation guidelines “in the near future.”
In the meantime, the deadline by which Sirius XM must fulfill the agreement to enter into long-term leases has been extended until Nov. 21.
