It has been widely anticipated that the EU would bring new antitrust charges against Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). The FTC and other US authorities are chasing the largest chip company in the world for similar reasons. South Korea has already fined Intel for anti-competitive behavior.

The theory behind the charges is that Intel induced PC companies and their retailers to use its chips and not those from rival AMD (NYSE: AMD). According to The Wall Street Journal, "The European Union launched new antitrust charges against Intel Corp., saying the chip giant paid rebates to a major retailer to encourage it not to carry computers using chips from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc ."

If the charges are true, it shows the extent to which a company of real size, like Intel, can be its own worst enemy. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ran into similar problems a decade ago for being too aggressive killing off competition in the browser and media player markets.

The irony of Intel's legal bind is that it almost certainly did not need to pressure or give incentives to keep AMD in a distant second place. It had the balance sheet to keep margin pressure on AMD and the engineering prowess to offer better chips.

Arrogance and carelessness often go with being in first place. This time it appears that it has caught up to Intel.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

EU finally brings antitrust charges against Intel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) took a positive step toward getting regulators to get on board with its acquisition of rival XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:XMSR).

If the merger happens -- I know it's a big if -- satellite radio will become more like cable television. People who want fewer channels will pay less than the $12.95 per month that they do now, the same if they want their current level of programming and more if they want more.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin is pledging not to raise prices. The arguments from Sen. Herb Kohl and other critics that the merger isn't good for consumers just don't make sense.

It's in the company's best interest to give the public great programming at a reasonable price. Satellite radio is far from a monopoly. People who are upset with Sirius or XM can plug in their iPods into their cars or listen to free radio.

I realize the National Association of Broadcasters is lobbying hard against the deal. NAB got into some hot water after our sister blog Engadget noticed that its anti-Sirius was looked very similar to Mastercard's well-known campaign.

Priceless.

Still, I am optimistic that a compromise will be worked out.

Sirius and XM will have to accept some sort of government regulation and satellite radio will survive.

Sirius XM is good for consumers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.