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iBiquity Asks FCC To Require HD In Satellite Receivers
WASHINGTON -- December 28, 2007: In a letter recapping an earlier meeting between Ibiquity Digital Corp. lawyers and FCC staffers, iBiquity has asked the commission to require XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio to include HD Radio technology in all satellite radio receivers as a condition of their merger. The satcasters' proposed merger is now awaiting approval from both the FCC and the Department of Justice.
"At this meeting," says the letter, signed by iBiquity attorney Robert Mazer, "iBiquity reviewed the competitive implications on its business relevant to the proposed merger of XM-Sirius. Specifically, iBiquity indicated that a combined XM-Sirius could be in a better position to hamper iBiquity's ability to introduce HD Radio technology into the marketplace." The satcasters' exclusive deals with various automakers, says iBiquity, could be a barrier to its efforts to sell HD receivers to consumers.
The letter notes that iBiquity expressed concern at the meeting that "satellite radio companies may have used subsidies and incentives paid to the automobile manufacturers and their suppliers to discourage proliferation of HD Radio products" -- and says a merged XM-Sirius would have even more money to fund such "subsidies and incentives."
While saying iBiquity has no formal position on the merger, the letter asks that -- as a condition of merger approval and "to ensure a level competitive playing field" for HD -- a merged XM-Sirius be required to include HD technology in all receivers, and that it be required to end its exclusive agreements with automakers, suppliers, and retailers and be prohibited from making any new exclusive deals.
The letter concludes, "iBiquity made it clear [at the meeting] that it will continue to license its patents on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms and make its technology available for inclusion in dual-use receivers."
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