Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio on Monday said they would merge in a stock-for-stock deal, a move that has been long expected in the young industry.

XM and Sirius said they would combine to create a company with an enterprise value of $13 billion, including $1.6 billion in net debt.

Under the terms of the deal, XM stockholders will get 4.6 shares in Sirius.

Veteran media executive Mel Karmazin, currently Sirius CEO, will be CEO of the combined company, and Gary Parsons, now chairman of XM, will hold the same position in the new company. The deal will need regulatory approval.

KOAR posted weeks ago that it looked like MTV was going to cancel TRL since kids are no longer tuning in. According to sources MTV execs have officially canned TRL and fired the people responsible for its production.

MTV just canned 250 employees and the bloodbath isn’t over yet. MTV is facing the challenges of a changing society and the new frontier of the digital age.

Recent data from Nielsen media peg TRL’s viewership at 393,000, down from almost 600,000 in 2001.

Update – When MTV heard the press leak of TRL being canned, the CEO immediately responded with an open letter stating that TRL will air ‘as always’. Meaning TRL will air until they find a replacement.

Check out ‘new’ music from alternative act Alseep hailing from Youngstown, Ohio. Their motto? Refusing the worn out formulas of current mainstream trends in favor of making the most genuine music possible is no easy task in today’s recording industry. If you don’t believe it just check out the track
Stay to Live.

For more information: Rick Smith or Scott FrazierÂ
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Fall Out Boy opens with a #1 Billboard position with 259,674 sales. They deserve it, one of the hardest working artists in the scene today.

American Idol Rules Over Grammys
American Idol on Tuesday had 33.36 million viewers compared to the Grammy Awards which had 20.06 million viewers.

And….

EMI cut its revenue and profit forecasts for the second time this year as music sales continue to slump in the U.S.

The White Stripes are close to inking a multi-million dollar deal with Warner Bros. A million dollar Deal for the White Stripes? Definitely a leap of faith here.

MTV is set to cut 250 jobs. They are facing the challenges of society and the digital age.

David Goldberg and Robert Roback who lead Yahoo’s music division, are leaving the company. The resignations are due to personal reasons.

Grammy Sweep by Dixie Chicks Is Seen as a Vindication? Country Broadcasters call the Recording Academy ‘Out-of-Touch’.

The Dixie Chicks’ big win at the Grammy Awards exposed ideological tensions between the music industry’s Nashville establishment and the members of the Recording Academy.

Although we don’t know, many insiders have some serious doubts about this years Grammys. Even though the Dixie Chicks album “Taking the Long Way Home” sold 1.9 million copies, it still fell short compared with albums by Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts which were supported by country radio.

As for as the Grammy voters were concerned, the Dixie Chicks “made a great album this year, and their music and their commentary resonated with our membership, as it did with the entire nation,� said Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

But……

Mr. Ayeroff, who founded the voter-registration group Rock the Vote, said a man sitting behind him in the Grammy audience snickered each time the Dixie Chicks received another trophy.

And………

Even though the Dixie Chicks owned the Grammys, it still wont convince Nashville. Country radio still won’t make nice with the chicks.

“Most country stations aren’t playing the Chicks, and they aren’t going to start now,” said Jim Jacobs, owner of WTDR-FM, a country radio station in Talladega, Ala.

Country broadcasters said that the group’s five Grammys show how out of touch the Recording Academy is from the average country fan.
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