The National Association of Broadcasters issued statements today regarding the events surrounding recent comments by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. In their statements, the NAB said nothing relating to the public interest issue that the FCC uses to make their determination. Instead, the NAB focused on interoperability, repeater networks, and FM modulators.

NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton stated, “Given their systematic breaking of virtually every rule set forth by the FCC in their 11 years of existence, it would be curious if the Commission now rewards XM and Sirius with a monopoly.”

It would appear that the National Association of Broadcasters has no real argument against the public interest benefits of the merger going forward given their recent focus on past issues, most of which have already been dealt with by regulators, or are in the hands of regulators currently.

The NAB has also shifted in who the “face” of the NAB is with regard to the merger process. Early on, David Rehr was the spokesperson for the association. After intense scrutiny, Dennis Wharton has taken on the leading role. Should the NAB lose their merger fight, Rehr will have been able to at least partially distance himself from recent activity.

[ NAB Press Release ]