U.S. government antitrust lawyers have spent nearly 10 months so far investigating Sirius Satellite Radio's plan to acquire rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings, despite company hopes that the deal would be approved by the end of 2007.

The delay may be due to the complexity of the issues raised by the merger of the only two U.S. satellite radio companies--or because the Department of Justice is putting together a case to block the deal in federal court, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus said in a research note on Thursday...

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