By Scott Moritz

In what would be a 3-2 vote split along political party lines, the Federal Communications Commission has finally gotten close to approving the merger between Sirius (SIRI) and rival XM (XMSR).

The swing vote on the deal is Commissioner Deborah Tate, a Republican appointee. Both Reuters and The Wall Street Journal say she is close to filing her vote in favor of the deal.

The two Democrats on the five member commission – Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps - have voted no on the combination. Copps Monday gave an unconditional no vote on the deal, and earlier today, Adelstein voted no after he made no progress getting the companies to agree to conditions like a six-year service price freeze and mandatory public access to a quarter of the combined companies’ airwaves.

The FCC approval will include a $19 million settlement related to enforcement issues. The fine involves an FCC inquiry into radio violations. XM was forced to pull some radios off the market because the signal transmission crossed over into the airwaves of conventional radio channels.

Sirius and XM filed for a merger review with regulators in February 2007.  Just over a year later, the Justice Department approved the deal, saying that conventional radio and MP3 players like Apple’s (AAPL) iPods were sufficient competition to keep Sirius from setting high prices.

The FCC was a more difficult hurdle, in part because the agency wrote the original satellite radio charter, which specified that the two radio wave licenses should be in separate hands to foster competition.

In an effort to ease the concerns that the satellite duo would use its monopoly status to gouge consumers, the companies proposed new price plans like 50-channel and 100-channel a la carteofferings that would cost $13 and $15 a month, prices that would stay static for three years. XM and Sirius currently charge $12.95 a month.

The companies also promised to set aside 4%, or 12 channels, for outside access like public service and minority programming.

But as the merger approval process dragged on for nearly a year and a half, the two companies saw growth cool and losses mount. And as new car sales fell, the satellite radio sector suffered as well. Investors worried about the perpetual need for new financing and the prospects of recapitalization pushed the stocks down. XM shares are down 23% from the pre-merger announcement level and Sirius has dropped 37% in the same period.

Looking ahead, if the companies manage to bring their operations together and find new sources of cash, the new entity will likely take aim at lowering high-priced programming deals like the five-year $500 million contract with Howard Stern, which expires in 2010.

By Michael V. Copeland

LAS VEGAS — I am not saying it’s safe or smart (and it’s probably illegal in most states), but I’ll be damned if a little driving is going to keep me from checking e-mail on my BlackBerry. And if I already have driving directions on my laptop screen, why not prop it up on the passenger seat next as a sort of ad-hoc navigation aid?

The point is, all the things we do, and all the gadgets we use as part of our work and fun, are steadily finding their way into our cars.  So far, we’ve mostly been the ones who are initiating that migration, not the automakers. People were watching movies on laptops in the back seat, and hacking their car stereos to use their iPods, long before they could get a factory-made LCD screen in a headrest or an in-dash dock for their favorite digital music player.  But based on the miles of auto tech on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, that’s about to change, and fast.

I’m not talking about the usual CES assortment of monster speakers, neon-lit amps and GPS units that if placed in a pile would  become their own geographic feature on a map. The new trend is the ability to bring your entire digital life  — not just music and driving directions — into your car.

Auto parts maker Delphi is showing off a device by partner Autonet Mobile, a Bay Area based startup that has developed a mobile WiFi kit for your car. Screw the base station into your trunk, connect the power, fire up the cellular-based broadband to bring in the Internet signal and your ride is bathed in WiFi.  Passengers can update their Facebook profiles, stream a YouTube video, or check restaurant reviews while on the road. Anything that can connect to WiFi will work. “It’s all about extending the Internet lifestyle into the car,” says Autonet Mobile CEO Sterling Pratz. When you are in range of your home WiFi network you can even send music or video wirelessly back to whatever is in the car.

The Autonet package will include the hardware to bring in the signal and a monthly or annual service fee for the cellular broadband service.  You can try it now for $10.95 a day at certain Avis rental locations, but the ultimate plan is to roll it out nationwide as an option in new cars. That begins in two weeks when two Bay Area car dealerships, one Volvo the other Toyota (TM),  start selling the in-car Internet gear. Pratz would not say what dealers are going to charge, only that it would be “much less than an in-car DVD system,” and the monthly fee would be at a discount to a typical $50 per month cellular broadband contract.

Pratz and his team have taken the approach that it’s far better to let people bring the gear they already have into the car. The logic is that it offers flexibility and no risk of obsolescence as long as WiFi is around.

One gadget that would be a perfect complement to Autonet, essentially an in-dash computer, hits the auto parts after-market in April. Developed by Grand Blanc, Mich.-based Azentek, the Atlas CPC 1200 amounts to a $2,800 PC cum GPS unit that fits in your car dashboard. For that price, the Atlas CPC 1200, has all the bells and whistles you can imagine. Up to 160 gigs of storage, DVD/CD drive, Bluetooth, 6.5-inch LCD touch-screen. The pricey PC, which starts shipping in April, uses an Intel Core Duo processor, and runs Windows Vista Ultimate. What it misses, however is connectivity. But since it does sport Wifi, you could bring in the signal via Autonet and boom, have your e-mail and you buddy list up while you drive.

Microsoft was making noise this year at CES with its Sync partnership with Ford (F).  And while slick in execution, the Sync technology, which will be an option on every Ford 2009 model, it mostly offers voice-activated cell-phone calling and music. One cool feature is the ability to have incoming text messages read aloud by the computer. But if it can do that, surely audio e-mail wouldn’t be too much of a technical hurdle. Give me that, and I’ll bet not only would Sync be a hit, but the roads would be far safer without all the BlackBerry reading drivers out there  — myself included.

By Yi-Wyn Yen

LAS VEGAS – GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced his arrival at the Consumer Electronics Show Tuesday night by rolling up in a silver Chevy Volt. But it was another concept car that Wagoner introduced during his keynote speech that wowed the crowd — the electric-fuel cell hybrid Cadillac Provoq.

In hopes of changing negative perceptions about big American car makers, Wagoner — the first automotive chief executive to speak at CES — used his hour-long presentation to highlight GM’s vision for greener, safer, smarter cars.

Wagoner unveiled the silver Provoq, a zero-emissions protoype designed to have a 300-mile range by using a hydrogen fuel cell to charge a lithium ion battery pack. The car can be charged on a home electrical outlet and its roof sports solar panels to extend battery life. Wagoner did not say when the concept car would go into production, but GM (GM) hopes to deliver fuel-cell cars in three to four years. “With oil hitting $100 a barrel last week… the auto industry can no longer rely exclusively on oil,” he said.

GM is aggressively pushing to change its gas-guzzling image by introducing eight hybrids this year, including the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs. The Chevy Volt, a battery-powered car whose range is boosted by a small engine that runs on a range of fuels, was unveiled at an auto show last year and is expected to hit showrooms around 2010. Wagoner said GM will continue to push for ethanol-based cars and expects to increase production of energy-efficient cars by 50 percent in the next four years.

Further into the future, Wagoner said he hopes cars will be smart enough to drive themselves. He highlighted a video of a self-driving Chevy Tahoe nicknamed “the Boss” that won a 60-mile DARPA race last year. The Boss will be on display starting Wednesday outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. “Someday you can do your e-mail, watch a video, apply your makeup while commuting to work. You can do all that right now, but imagine if you can do it safely,” Wagoner said.

While self-driving cars may be a thing of the future, car owners won’t have to wait long for car doors that can be locked with with cell phones and for cars that put on the brakes when stolen. GM revamped its 12-year-old OnStar safety and alarm system to slow down a stolen car when it’s being chased by the police. It is also working with Verizon (VZ), Qualcomm (QCOM), and LG on mobile phones that can activate car alarms, lock doors and download driving directions. Said Wagoner: “This has been a massive learning experience for us of understanding where and how the auto and electronic industry intersects.”