It’s no surprise that the shareholders from Sirius have approved the acquisition deal of rival XM Radio, but the kicker is how long this process may take and when the shareholders may actually realize any profits.

It’s actually quite fair to think about this deal as the new millennium’s Ma Bell. There is absolutely no competition outside of these two satellite radio providers and there probably won’t be for a while unless Google decides it likes the idea of creating yet another ad revenue stream. (Don’t put it past them. I’m sure they’ve considered it.)

I’m an XM subscriber. It’s because of the baseball package. MLB on XM is my sports fix. All day, all the time. Music? The kids listen to that. I’m interested in the single-season average of the longest-tenured active third baseman who eats Cheez-Its. On Wednesdays. In the rain.

They say the devil is in the details and I’ve yet to understand how they’ll merge these two venues without completely ruining what I already like (and without, I might add, charging me a market-owner price). I’ll stand by and wait, but if the packages don’t meet customers’ approval, then I think we should turn a deaf ear. While I’m sure those shareholders are reaaaalllyyy happy about their future untold fortunes, it’s not going to fly with the folks on the ground.

Keep it real … Sirius.