U.S. Electronics Files FOIA Complaint vs. FCC
Former Satellite-Radio Manufacturer Seeks Information on XM, Sirius
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/4/2008 2:49:00 PM
U.S. Electronics, which formerly manufactured satellite-radio receivers for Sirius Satellite Radio, filed a Freedom of Information Act complaint in federal court against the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to get information on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius.
The company said it filed numerous FOI requests on the companies' compliance, or lack of it, with various conditions placed on them when the FCC granted the pair the only two national satellite-radio licenses.
USE added that the FCC complied only in part in some cases and not at all in others and denied it expedited treatment, prompting the complaint to the court.
The company wants the court to expedite the process -- it filed the request in January -- because the FCC is currently considering whether or not to allow XM and Sirius to merge. If it does so, it will likely be with conditions.
USE said the information is germane to that process. "In the event the commission approves the merger and considers imposing additional conditions," it argued, "these documents can help in crafting such conditions in a way that compliance is assured."
The information relates to the companies' "failure to make available an interoperable radio almost 10 years after the FCC required them to do so; noncompliance with tower- and antenna-placement authorization and allowable transmitting levels; and deliberately exceeding FCC emission standards," USE said.
In comments to the FCC on the proposed merger, USE pushed the agency to require the companies to open their satellite network to satellite receivers made by any company.
FCC chairman Kevin Martin has said the commission may decide by the end of June whether or not to allow the merger.
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