WASHINGTON - America's two satellite radio companies have agreed to pay US$19.7 million to settle rules violations, a move that is expected to lead to quick approval of their merger.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin told The Associated Press Thursday that the agency had reached an agreement late Wednesday night where XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will pay $17.5 million and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. will pay $2.2 million to settle agency rules violations.

The agreement, which still requires a full vote of the commission, is expected to lead to approval of Sirius's $3.9 billion buyout of XM, which has been under regulatory review for more than a year.

The violations involve complaints about interference the satellite radios cause with land-based radio stations and violations related to land-based signal repeaters the companies operate to deliver programming. Martin said XM's penalty was greater because the company's offence was more egregious.

He said that XM had a number of repeaters that were in violation of rules. "And even more significantly," Martin said, "XM had continued to operate their repeaters without authority when they were in violation."

The vote on the buyout is currently 2-2 with Republican Deborah Taylor Tate still undecided. According to agency officials, Tate will approve the takeover once the enforcement action is circulated to the full commission.

"This was an issue that Commissioner Tate thought was important for us to deal with prior to her supporting the merger," Martin said of the consent decree. "I think that this was a significant issue that we can take off the table that I think will allow us to move forward soon on finishing up the merger."

Tate had apparently sought a fine of $8 million, according to FCC officials who asked not to be named because the deal was not yet final.

If a majority of commissioners sign off on the enforcement action, as expected, Tate's vote approving the satellite radio buyout could occur sometime Thursday.

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