Stern warnings

Satellite radio has reached the tipping point.

Deregulation of the dial, which allowed companies like Clear Channel to control most of what you hear, has produced an environment where too few people decide what you can and can't hear for free. Now it's payback time for companies like that. The man who made Mel Karmazin look like a genius will now become the man who transforms a whole new medium.

Companies like Sirius and XM have spent incredible amounts of money trying to get off the ground. (Check out XM's history of post-IPO secondary offerings sometime; they've gone to the well for something like $1 billion.) To date, they've signed up only a few hundred thousand customers apiece, despite generally positive reviews. Today's deal represents the moment of arrival for both companies, really, but Sirius has scored a major coup.

It's really amazing what can happen when someone tries to translate his love of pornography to the radio. Ba-ba-booie to that.