Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) originally supported the merger between satcasters SIRIUS and XM, but the New York congressman has had a change of heart.

Meeks indicated he was swayed by Georgetown Partners LLC’s argument against the merger.

He voiced his opposition to the merger in a letter to the FCC.

Meeks writes, “By allowing a minority-controlled entity to be the lessee, the Commission would serve the public interest by achieving diversity of ownership in this large medium as well as enhanced minority media ownership in general - two areas that the Commission has been asked to address.”

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It’s the big buzz in satellite radio and all the players concerned wait patiently for the decision  to come down. I’m talking about the merger, of course. Today, XM’s chairman said he remains “hopeful” the deal will close this year.

The chairman of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said Wednesday he remains “hopeful” that the company’s $5 billion acquisition by rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. will close this year, although he acknowledged that time is running short.

Read the full story here…

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David Frear says he expects to close the Sirius-XM transaction by the end of the year.

Frear argues that the so-called “original rule” that prohibited XM and Sirius from merging when the original licenses were granted by the FCC, was of a different time, not relevant to the music/media market today. He says former FCC chairman Reed Hundt, who created the initial rule, agrees.

Check out more of Frear’s address to the UBS’s Global Media conference here…

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Georgetown Partners L.L.C., a minority-owned private equity firm with a commercial interest in the proposed Sirius-XM merger, today reported it has made a filing with the Department of Justice involving, among other documents, a specific letter to the head of the Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett, detailing its concerns about the antitrust consequences of the proposed merger as structured and urging the Department to fulfill its responsibility to block the transaction in court.

In its filing, Georgetown said that recent public reports have stated that the Antitrust Division’s non-political professional career staff has concluded that the proposed merger needs to be blocked under the law but that the staff is being stymied by Mr. Barnett. Georgetown asserts in its filing that the transaction as structured violates antitrust law and would have adverse economic consequences for the American public.
(more…)

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