Can Mel Karmazin's buzz words sway the FCC?

The New York post, raised an interesting point this morning regarding the planned Sirius XM merger. The paper said Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin wouldn't have announced the deal if he wasn't confident while touching back on his track record as a deal maker. It's true that we can't think of a failed Karmazin deal off the top of our heads, unless you count his resignation from Viacom when he realized he wasn't getting the CEO gig. Both Karmazin and XM Chairman Gary Parsons continually referred to the "exploding alternatives for audio entertainment services" in announcing their deal, a clear appeal to the Department of Justice to broaden the marketplace definition to include terrestrial radio, online radio and iPods. And it should come as no surprise that Karmazin was tossing off phrases like, "We want to be the poster child for consumer friendliness," in discussing the merger, nor should the fact that the release announcing the deal specifically noted that consumers could pick channels on an "a la carte basis." TALKS UP FCC HEAD [NYP]