Washington - At a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin reiterated that his company's proposed merger with XM Satellite Radio will result in lower prices and more options for customers.

Testifying before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, Karmazin said that the deal would allow the combined company to offer packages of fewer channels at prices less than the current $12.95 a month.

He also said that the company would consider guaranteeing federal regulators that it would not raise its prices.

Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), however, said that the government should "be skeptical of claims that new technologies necessarily 'change the equation' and provide competition sufficient to restrain monopoly power," the Associated Press reported.

The $13 billion deal requires approval from the FCC and Justice Department.

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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070417/xm_sirius_merger.html?.v=1 (AP)