Maybe we should look for action from the Federal Communications Commission soon on the question of how Sirius XM should enter into lease agreements to allow access to 4% of the audio channels on the Sirius and XM services.
The Media Bureau has again issued an extension, this time until Oct. 27, for the company to implement its “voluntary commitment” to such leases, which would give one or more “qualified entities” access to those channels. The goal of that commitment, which emerged in the negotiations to win regulatory approval for the merger, is to provide access to programming run by minorities and women.
“The bureau anticipates commission action on the implementation guidelines in the near future, and thus this brief extension is appropriate,” it stated in its brief announcement, though it has said similar things before and we have yet to learn the rules the satellite companies would have to follow and whether and how the FCC would police the arrangement.
