Inspired as a response to rumors of a potential merger between XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, law students at George Washington University have created a consumer advocacy group dedicated to ensuring competition in the digital satellite radio industry.

Announced Jan. 12, the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio was created on behalf of the 13 million digital satellite radio subscribers, the student organizers said.

"The competitive duopoly in satellite digital radio created by the [U.S. Federal Communications Commission] in 1997 is clearly at risk," Chris Reale, a second-year law student and one of the organization’s founding members, said in a statement. "If the only two companies operating in the satellite radio industry are permitted to combine, consumers not only will lose their choice, but they will be totally at the mercy of a monopoly provider."