WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- A Washington student group opposed to the XM-Sirius merger gets funds from the National Association of Broadcasters, a huge critic of the merger, a report says.
NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the organization "never denied" it provided financial support to the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio, founded by George Washington University law students, Radio&Record.com said Monday.
Wharton said he did not know how much money the NAB had provided the group to create its anti-merger Web site, nor did he know any of the group's other sponsors.
Sirius and XM satellite broadcasters announced their proposed merger in February.
Chris Reale, described as "a founder of C3SR," told Radio&Record he was a part-time law student at GWU, but did not say why law students would be interested in the merger.
Reale later acknowledged to Corporate Crime Reporter, a legal newsletter based in Washington, that he worked full-time at Williams Mullen Strategies, the lobbying arm of the Williams Mullen law firm, whose communications practice is headed by Julian Shepard, a former NAB assistant general counsel.
