1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 117th Session, 2007-2008 3 4 S. 620 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 Senate Resolution 9 Sponsors: Senators Knotts, Cromer, Ford, Land, Scott, Elliott, Patterson and Leventis 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\bb\18081ab07.doc 11 Companion/Similar bill(s): 3806 12 13 Introduced in the Senate on March 28, 2007 14 Currently residing in the Senate 15 16 Summary: Satellite radio providers 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 3/28/2007 Senate Introduced SJ-6 23 3/28/2007 Senate Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry SJ-6 24 4/4/2007 Senate Recalled from Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry SJ-2 25 26 27 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 28 29 3/28/2007 30 4/4/2007 31 1 RECALLED 2 April 4, 2007 3 4 S. 620 5 6 Introduced by Senators Knotts, Cromer, Ford, Land, Scott, Elliott 7 and Patterson 8 9 S. Printed 4/4/07--S. 10 Read the first time March 28, 2007. 11 12

1 [620-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A SENATE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO URGE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED 12 STATES AND THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 13 COMMISSION TO OPPOSE THE PROPOSED MERGER OF 14 THE ONLY TWO SATELLITE RADIO PROVIDERS 15 OPERATING IN THE UNITED STATES. 16 17 Whereas, competition benefits consumers by lowering prices, 18 increasing innovation, and increasing responsiveness to consumer 19 complaints; and 20 21 Whereas, a competitive market for satellite radio now exists, 22 benefiting consumers, musicians, and other entertainers; and 23 24 Whereas, the only two national satellite radio providers have 25 proposed to merge into a single government-sanctioned monopoly; 26 and 27 28 Whereas, the proposed merger of the only two national satellite 29 radio providers will violate current Federal Communications 30 Commission rules; and 31 32 Whereas, the merger will leave consumers, musicians, and other 33 entertainers susceptible to the whims of a single company with 34 unlimited market power to extract terms, conditions, and prices 35 that are anti-competitive; and 36 37 Whereas, the combination of these two satellite radio companies 38 will potentially restrict programming that is diverse and in the 39 public’s interest; and 40 41 Whereas, a government-sanctioned monopoly is harmful to 42 consumers and the public and should be avoided. Now, therefore,

1 [620] 1 1 2 Be it resolved by the Senate: 3 4 That the members of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, by 5 this resolution, urge the Attorney General of the United States and 6 the Federal Communications Commission to oppose the proposed 7 merger of the only two satellite radio providers operating in the 8 United States. 9 10 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to 11 the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, the 12 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the 13 members of the South Carolina Congressional Delegation, the 14 Attorney General of the United States, the Federal 15 Communications Commission, and the Attorney General for the 16 State of South Carolina. 17 ----XX---- 18

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