The shareholders of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio voted Tuesday by an overwhelming margin to approve Sirius' proposed acquisition of its rival.
Sirius said 96 per cent of its shareholders gave the "thumbs up" to the all-stock deal; at XM, the approval was 99.8 per cent.
Despite the two endorsements, the merger is far from being a done deal. Regulatory approval must also be obtained from the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. That could be tricky.
Some consumer groups in the U.S. have already spoken against the merger, saying it would create a monopoly in the U.S. satellite radio market.
But Sirius and XM have argued that the merger should be allowed, saying they really do have plenty of competition from iPods, internet radio, regular radio, and cellphones that can download and play music.
'Business as usual' in Canada ... for now
The two Canadian satellite radio companies are separate entities and are not immediately affected by Tuesday's merger vote at the two U.S. companies. But there's speculation that if the U.S. merger goes through, a Canadian merger won't be far behind.
XM Canada's parent is Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings — a publicly-traded company. XM Canada is run by Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings of Toronto, in partnership with XM Satellite. It announced in September it had 306,000 subscribers in Canada.
Sirius Canada Inc. is jointly owned by U.S.-based Sirius Satellite Radio, the CBC, and Standard Broadcasting Inc. It boasts 500,000 Canadian subscribers.
A merger of the two Canadian satellite radio firms would require CRTC approval. For now, at least, it's "business as usual," said Jeff Roman, a spokesperson at Sirius Canada.
When news of the $13-billion US merger proposal was announced in February, XM Canada was enthusiastic.
"This is great news for the satellite radio industry in North America and could offer further benefits to consumers, retailers, partners and shareholders," John Bitove, chairman of Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings, said in a statement at the time.
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