Remember when the idea of a merged satellite radio provider was seemingly the only items of news for radio? The New York Times recently ran a story about the ongoing woes of the company.

When the merger was the top story, the NAB opposed it. No, it more than opposed the merger, the NAB waged a war against it. Unfortunately for the NAB, it lost that very visible war. But as I expected, the merger of the two satcasters has had a minimal affect on terrestrial radio.

The combined company has a huge debt, and apparently it needs to refinance that debt in 2009. Howard Stern is considering retirement when his contract expires. It looks like Sirius XM just can’t catch a break.