So, if I remember rightly, the deadline for the European Commission reaching a new decision on whether Sony Music and BMG should have been allowed to merge is 1 Mar, which is the day after tomorrow. Though insiders reckon we shouldn't expect anything to actually happen this week - with some saying EC officials will simply announce that they need more time to reassess whether Sony and Bertelsmann should have been allowed to merge their record labels in 2004, and that a decision won't be reached until July or August.
Cynics might note that that would put this decision after the other music related merger being considered by the EC just now - that of the merger of BMG Music Publishing with Universal Music Publishing. Some reckon that if the SonyBMG ruling comes first either result could be bad for the BMG/Universal publishing merger proposals - either SonyBMG is allowed to stay and officials become nervous about being seen to allow another major music company merger through, or SonyBMG is broken up, and a precedent is set that major music company mergers are, as a general rule, a bad thing.