XM Satellite and Sirius Completes Merger

XM Satellite and Sirius Satellite Radio have completed their merger. The merged company will change its name to Sirius XM Radio Inc. Their stock will continue to be traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol SIRI. The company now has more than 18.5 million subscribers and expects to save about $400 million in costs in 2009.

China Putting Limits on Internet Video

China is putting restrictions on the broadcasting of Internet videos by only allowing citizens to use sites that are ran by state-controlled companies. They are also requiring that providers report questionable content to the government. The regulations will start to take effect on January 31^st and were approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and the Ministry of Information Industry.

Under the new policy, Websites that provide videos or allow people to upload videos have to get government permits and applicants have to be state-owned or state-controlled companies. The policy will also ban providers form broadcasting video that has national secrets, hurts the reputation of China, disturbs social stability, or has pornography. Video providers will be required to delete and report this kind of content.

The permits will have to be renewed every three years and video providers that commit major violations might be banned from providing online videos for five years. It is not clear if the popular Website YouTube will be affected since they are available in China and runs a Chinese-language Website. It also isn’t known if any of YouTube’s computer servers are located in China.

Jay-Z Takes Over Sirius Radio’s Hip-Hop Channel

The rapper Jay-Z is taking over Sirius Satellite Radio’s hip-hop channel for a week. He will be the host of Jay-Z Nation starting Monday. Jay-Z Nation will have music from his albums and songs from his favorite hip-hop artists.

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