Wall Street Wise and Washington, DC Dumb?

You'd think that Sirius and XM Satellite Radio would know that they must depend on the authority of people who live and work in Washington (members of the FCC, SEC and Congressional Committees) for approval of their proposed merger.

Washington, DC is a different animal than New York. It is "all political, all the time."

People who live and work in Washington, DC, "eat, breathe, sleep, swim in, sweat and bleed Washington." They are so political that every conversation is about politics. They suck up politics and political talk like sponges.

So, why do neither XM or Sirius carry the "MSNBC" channel? XM did carry MSNBC at one time, but dropped it from their channel's list. And what's this with the dropping of C-SPAN?

MSNBC bills itself as a political channel. With programs like "Imus in the Morning", the all day political coverage, "Hardball with Chris Matthews", "Tucker" with Tucker Carlson, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and "Scarborough Country" with former Congressman Joe Scarborough, and all the elected officials and appointed agency officials who appear on those shows, MSNBC is a great favorite of those who "eat, breathe, sleep, swim in, sweat and bleed Washington."

So, the question again is, "Who do neither XM or Sirius carry the "MSNBC" channel and C-SPAN?"

Are they Wall Street Smart, but Washington, DC Dumb?

Don't the savvy programmers, officers and other management pros at both XM and Sirius know that it's not nice to mess with Washington, DC's favorite things? They might want to consult the people on their political PR and lobbyist payrolls.

Of course, even if XM and/or Sirius were to add MSNBC, that would not necessarily guarantee that the merger would have smooth sailing through all the turbulent and uncertain waters of the FCC, SEC and Congressional Committees. But, it sure wouldn't hurt their chances.

Most of those black SUV's carrying congresspeople, staff and various agencies heads are equipped with satellite radio. Why mess with "Mother Politics" and take away one of Washington, DC's political news sources that they're listening to while riding in them through the streets of the nation's capital?

The TV Gossip Vultures Have Descended on Hollywood, Florida

Their white and gleaming teeth all crowned and capped, the TV vultures from the gossip channels have descended upon Hollywood, Florida to pick at the bones of Anna Nicole Smith. In hot pursuit are MSNBC, Fox News Channel and CNN. Do we really need 24 hour, wall-to-wall live reports on this lady from Mexia, Texas? Do you really want to know about her childhood, her marriages, her found and lost loves? Does your breakfast and lunch taste better because you hear that ANS choked on her own vomit? Is it essential to the nation that TV anchors breathlessly tell you that they are anticipating another news conference in Florida? Probably not. But, for the next few days you'll be force-fed these tantalizing tidbits in torrid TV "news" casts.
Just how long can cable TV news keep reporting on "what we don't know yet is ... "?
Meanwhile, helicopters are being shot down from the skies over Iraq and our nation's best men and women are dying, gasoline prices are climbing, corporations are reporting obscene profits and the rest of the nation's important news has to take a backseat.
The reason that "everybody's talking" about the death of Anna Nicole Smith is not because it is newsworthy. It is because the producers and news reporters will report on nothing else. What a waste of airwaves and cable channels. We'll need a case of Zest deodorant soap to wash off the smell after watching these reports. Maybe Bill O'Reilly will be handing out loofahs and felafels to all the viewers.