The boss of US satellite radio network Sirius, Mel Karmazin, has said he hopes American regulators will rule later this month on whether the previously reported merger between Sirius and rivals XM can go ahead.
As previously reported, various political and media owner types have expressed concern at the proposals to merge the US's only two satellite radio firms, though Sirius and XM argue that they really operate in the wider broadcasting industry, which is so competitive it shouldn't matter if there is only one satellite radio company.
Speaking at a media conference in the US this week, Karmazin said he "took heart" at recent comments by the chair of US media regulator the FCC, Kevin Martin, that indicated that the long drawn out investigation into the merger would finally reach a conclusion later this month.
He also told the conference that he is hopeful that the drawn out nature of the FCC's investigation was a good sign, because, he says, if the regulators thought satellite radio should be treated as a stand-alone industry - a viewpoint that would block the merger - they would have concluded their investigation much sooner.