Justice Dept. OKs merger of XM, Sirius; now it's up to FCC

The Justice Department gave its OK on Monday to a deal that would put Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey under the same satellite radio company roof. Antitrust officials said that they saw no reason to block or put conditions on Sirius' acquisition of XM, leaving consumers with a single satellite radio provider. "We determined that we did not have evidence to support a challenge," says Thomas Barnett, who heads the antitrust division. (AP, Financial Times, PR)