New satellite radio competitor: AT&T

 This from Tom Taylor  at radio-info.com: AT&T announced a TV/Radio outlet  that will compete with the Sirius/XM satellite.

Here are details from the big, but shrinking CES (consumer electronics show) in Las Vegas. 

So, all that government time and money spent checking whether a Sirius/XM  merger was a monopoly was a giant waste.   Why didn't someone just call AT&T?  Couldn't get a signal? Well, we outsiders knew it really wasn't a monopoly anyway, that there were many competitors for your ears and eyes on many platforms.

But the strong national  broadcasters radio lobby  was doing what it could to forestall any and all competition and trying to keep Mel Karmazin  from building up to bigger arsenal of talent.  Man, how quickly the times have changed.

I'm not sure about the pricing though of the new service. They want more than a grand for equipment and $28 a month for the service and they don't have Howard Stern.  Are families really that desperate to have new TV content in their cars? I don't know. Maybe if you're the Palins  out for an Alaskan winter drive, you need hours and hours of movies and hockey live. And don't forget the religious channels. But only if the government  is paying for it.

 Speaking of Sarah Palin, I heard Bill O Reilly say today on his soon to be forgotten radio show that Palin would be a strong contender for the Republican Party in 2012, but  only if she can prove to the world that she is a deep thinker able to solve problems. O'Reilly wasn't saying that with any irony. He wasn't saying that he didn't think she wasn't a deep thinker, just that she had to show the world that she was.

 No wonder these guys supported George Bush for eight years, while claiming to be fair and balanced in a no spin zone.

 I almost feel sorry for O'Reilly though. They only thing that has upset him more than the sexual harassment settlement he had to pay off to the woman he made pornographic phone calls to  is the fact that his biggest enemy, Al Franken,  looks like he's about to win a Senate seat. Bill must be chewing on his loofah.

(photo: politicalhumor.about. com)