As part of its merger agreement, satellite audio service Sirius XM is supposed to provide 4% of its channel capacity to “qualified entities.” The third party access program is scheduled to kick in on 11/28/08 – oh, wait – that day has already passed. But the blame cannot be laid upon Sirius XM. According to the FCC, “…several commenters raised concerns about the mechanics of the channel lease administration and allocation, and the Commission committed to determine the implementation details for use of these leased channels at a later date.” The Commission is still trying to figure it out. As such, XM Sirius is now off the hook for its third party carriage agreement until 2/27/09.
