"We are astonished that the Justice Department would propose granting a monopoly to two companies that systematically broke FCC rules for more than a decade," said NAB EVP Dennis Wharton in response to Monday's announcement by the Department of Justice [1] that it had approved the merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

The NAB, which has been fighting the merger since it was announced a year ago, has in the past pointed to what it called XM's and Sirius' "misbehavior" regarding FCC rules [2], including, in XM's case, unauthorized repeaters, repeaters operating in unauthorized locations, and repeaters operating at greater-than-authorized power levels.

Additionally, in explaining its decision, the DOJ's Antitrust Division pointed to the fact that XM and Sirius receivers are not interoperable, saying that means the satcasters don't currently compete effectively for one another's customers.

In response to that, Wharton said, "To hinge approval of this monopoly on XM and Sirius's refusal to deliver on a promise of interoperable radios is nothing short of breathtaking."