It appears XM and Sirius have won approval for their proposed merger from the Federal Communications Commission, more than 17 months after the companies first proposed a combination of operations.

A formal decision from the commission could surface at any time. There was no official word from the FCC as of press time late Wednesday.

Nonetheless, the tumultuous process could be a penny-pincher for a combined satellite radio entity.

In order to win the endorsement of one last FCC Commissioner, Republican Deborah Taylor Tate, there's talk that the satellite radio companies could face a consent decree that resolves unspecified enforcement issues, though some reports said those items may involve satellite radio receivers exceeding mandated power limits or matters pertaining to terrestrial repeaters. The push may include a $20 million fine, stated the Wall Street Journal.

Tate would join two other Republicans, Chairman Kevin Martin and Robert McDowell, in voting for the deal. The panel's two Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, have voted against the merger proposal.

While the votes may be in, there could be other intricacies.

"Because of the technical complexity about some of the items, such as the terms of the enforcement action against the companies for interference issues related to their use of repeaters, there may be time gaps between when there is a conceptual agreement and when there is a new written document ready to be voted on and, then, eventually released," said Blair Levin of Stifel Nicolaus. "Commissioner statements can also delay final action."

Jonathan Adelstein, one of two Democratic commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, has cast his dissenting vote on the Sirius/XM merger, a move that came along with a strong statement on the deal.

Adelstein floated some ideas on the pending satellite radio deal, including a six-year cap on prices, a set-aside of capacity amounting to 25 percent, and the inclusion of HD Radio technology in future satellite radio receivers. Apparently, his proposals didn't gain much steam at the Portals.

"I was hoping to forge a bipartisan solution that would offer consumers more diversity in programming, better price protection, expanded choices among innovative devices and real competition with digital radio," Adelstein said in a statement on the XM/Sirius merger released Wednesday. "Instead, it appears they're going to get a monopoly with window dressing. We really missed a great opportunity to reach a bipartisan agreement that would have benefited the American people."

AT&T said its satellite-based video connections grew 21 percent during a 12-month period that ended in June, from 1.846 million in June 2007 to 2.235 million in June 2008.

Nonetheless, the second quarter satellite TV sales effort for the telco giant, conducted through its partnership with DISH Network, netted only 3,000 during the three-month period.

The 12-month figures included service to customers with either DISH Network or DIRECTV, through agency agreements the telco has held with the companies. At the beginning of the year, AT&T said it would go with DISH as its exclusive provider of satellite TV services. Earlier in the month, however, the company made moves to exit its sales and marketing deal with DISH, which has led to speculation that AT&T would open up the satellite side of video to competitive bidding between the companies.

The numbers also came along with some robust growth for AT&T's IPTV offering.

The telco giant said its U-verse TV service netted 170,000 customers in the second quarter, taking the total subscriber count for the product to 549,000.

Entropic Communications, a provider of silicon solutions that enable connected home entertainment, said it is working with EchoStar Technologies to develop additional solutions leveraging its Band Translation Switch (BTS) technology. The BTS technology is capable of supporting two tuners over a single cable for cost-effective and efficient delivery of satellite services, Entropic said.

Verimatrix on Wednesday announced a Series C round of new funding led by Goldman Sachs.  The capital will fund the company's business expansion and accelerate deployment of the Verimatrix 3-Dimensional Content Security solution aimed at hybrid cable and satellite markets around the world.