With the FCC relaxing the rules on media ownership yesterday, I started thinking again about satellite radio. If all my local media is going to start sounding the same anyway, why not just go for the full network radio effect? After a rocky start, XM and Sirius are making excellent headway. They are even talking about breaking even in the next couple years. XM has 500,000 subscribers and Sirius, a year behind due to technical problems, has 68,000. Car manufacturers are offering the receivers as optional equipment. You can buy the radios at electronics stores now, and even Wal-Mart. The two companies have slightly different tactics for their road to profitability, and the competition should be clean and healthy, a fun fight for both parties. Some critics say people will just use mp3 players instead, but getting exposed to new music, talk, and news is still a big draw for radio. And mp3 players still have some overhead for obtaining and arranging your music, whereas radio music plays without any fuss. Now a combo satellite, FM, AM, TV-audio, mp3 player with Tivo-like-capabilities…that would be perfect.