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The FCC has started a public comment period on Liberty Media's application for the agency to approve its plan to take control of Sirius XM Radio.

Moving ahead with its evaluation of the application, the FCC said in a notice that comments are due by Nov. 1, with responses to them due by Nov. 20. A decision is expected within weeks of that final deadline.

John Malone's Liberty filed a second request with the FCC in August, asking for approval to take outright control of the satellite radio firm. Liberty has in recent weeks continued to acquire Sirius stock, inching closer to owning a 50 percent stake. It is expected to wait for a final FCC decision before crossing the 50 percent mark.

Much debate has as of late focused on the future of Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin whose employment contract expires at the end of the year. Liberty chairman Malone and CEO Greg Maffei have said Karmazin has done a good job, but also emphasized that Sirius will be fine without him at the top.

Malone, Maffei and Karmazin are all expected to speak at Liberty Media's annual investor meeting in New York next Wednesday. Observers will closely follow their latest comments and body language for potential clues on the future leadership of Sirius.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai

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FCC Starts Comment Period on Liberty Media Request to Take Control of Sirius XM

CHICAGO, Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --INXPO, the leading cloud platform for Social Business TV, Online Events and Webcasting, announces the availability of three new internal communications Social Widgets. With these Internal Communication Social Widgets, organizations can further foster conversation and community in their private Social Business TV programs, online events and webcasts.

The new internal communications social widgets are as follows:

All internal communications widgets can be useful for incorporating conversation around your internal communications broadcasts. The newly released Social Widgets for internal communications complement INXPO's pre-existing widgets for external communications:

"All of our Social Widgets are available to any Social Business TV, online event or webcasting customer. With the deepest level of integration in our space, we enable customers to connect their rich media events and live Social Business TV broadcasts to their ongoing activity streams," said Scott Kellner, INXPO CMO.

"This creates a complete content and conversation ecosystem, further enlivening private communities like Jive and Yammer, while promoting important external customer initiatives via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn," continued Kellner.

INXPO provides the most complete and easy-to-use widgets in the industry, and the widget architecture is extensible, allowing clients and partners to build their own widgets, social or otherwise, into online events, webcasts and Social Business TV broadcasts.

About INXPO

INXPO is changing the way businesses communicate with their constituents. With our industry-leading and award-winning Digital Communications Platform we deliver always on, Social Business TV, as well as episodic Online Events. To date, we have delivered more than 2,500 successful online events and Social Business TV experiences for global customers, including American Marketing Association (AMA), Autodesk, Cisco, Freeman, George P. Johnson, Hilton, HIMSS, P&G, PCMA, TechTarget, UBM and U.S. Department of State. We are headquartered in Chicago and on the Web. Visit us at http://www.INXPO.com and on Twitter at @INXPO.

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INXPO Announces Best in Class Social Networking Integration for Social Business TV, Online Events and Webcasting

Enterprise social networking is the new battleground for all enterprise collaboration vendors, according to Ovum analyst Richard Edwards.

Ovum estimated the current value of the market exceeds US$500 million and that 10 per cent of organisations in established IT markets have enterprise social networking services.

Merger and acquisition activity has increased markedly in the past few months, and this has led to new entrants appearing on the enterprise collaboration landscape, Edwards said.

Jive and Yammer are getting the most looks from organisations considering social networking, but other vendors are generating significant business and revenues from their offerings, he said. Microsoft recently acquired Yammer for US$1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Salesforce.com recently launched a social media pilot program, while Google recently announced an attempt to bring social media to the enterprise.

As the business case for investment in enterprise social networking solutions has yet to be proven to business sceptics, some vendors are encouraging independent user adoption in the hope it will prove business value, Edwards said.

Ovum believes that the business potential offered by enterprise social networking will only be unlocked when necessity dictates a business change.

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Enterprise social networking market heats up: Ovum

The time has come to think seriously about enterprise social networking and consider its role within wider enterprise collaboration strategy, according to global analyst firm, Ovum.

In a new report- the global analyst firm says the enterprise social networking market is starting to mature and is moving from the introduction phase into the growth phase. Strategic acquisitions have already been made by start-ups and establish vendors alike.

Richard Edwards, Ovum analyst and author of the report, comments: "Ovums current assessment of the enterprise social networking market indicates that Jive and Yammer are the two vendors that organisations are most eager to compare and contrast, but other vendors are generating significant business and revenues from their offerings."

"Industry figures suggest IBM Connections brought in US$105.4m during 2011, and from this we believe the current value of the enterprise social networking market to be in excess of US$500m," Edwards says.

Enterprise social networking, from a market perspective, is well and truly in the adopter phase, with around 10 percent of organisations in established IT markets deploying solutions or subscribing to services. Mobile devices are increasingly being used to access the networks and this is extending the use case for such solutions to a broad audience.

Edwards notes: "As the business case for investment in enterprise social networking solutions has yet to be proven to business sceptics, some vendors are encouraging independent user adoption in the hope it will prove business value. Ovum believes that the business potential offered by enterprise social networking will only be unlocked when necessity dictates a business change."

Meanwhile, the enterprise collaborations technology landscape is awash with social software from a variety of different sources. Vendors offering pure-play enterprise social networking solutions are competing against established enterprise collaboration providers. On the other hand, vendors offering business automation social platforms are trying to gain traction in a market that is also assessing the merits of emerging offerings from companies specialising in enterprise applications.

"Merger and acquisition activity has increased markedly in the past few months, and this has led to new entrants appearing on the enterprise collaboration landscape. So, with a market potential of at least US$10bn, the enterprise social networking market is the new battleground for all enterprise collaboration vendors" concludes Edwards.

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Time for enterprise social networking is now - Ovum

LAS VEGAS Fearful that any tidbit of information about President Obama's debate prep might disclose his strategy to Mitt Romney's campaign, his staffers are treating it like state secrets.

"It just doesn't make a lot of sense for us to get into that," said White House press secretary Jay Carney of the rhetorical calisthenics, verbal jumping jacks and oratorical squat thrusts that make up the president's training exercises for tomorrow night's 90-minute face-off with Romney in Denver.

Mr. Obama didn't want to discuss his debate prep either. During a break in his rehearsal sessions, he left Debate Camp to visit the Hoover Dam. He said he had never been there before and found it to be a "spectacular" sight, but he cut off his chat with reporters when they started asking about his debate prep.

And Jay Carney was taking his lead from the president. At a press briefing at which he discussed such other matters as sanctions on Iran, the ongoing violence in Iraq, the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and new criticism from Republican congressional Leaders about Mr. Obama's handling of budget matters, Carney and his campaign counterpart Jen Psaki, were carefully guarded about the debate preparations.

Struggling for a scintilla of insight into the debate prep, a reporter asked Carney if he'd liken the process to cramming for a test.

"I wouldn't characterize it at all," he said. Neither would he say how Mr. Obama plans to address Romney in the debate: as Governor, Mr. Romney or Mitt.

From other sources it's known the preparation includes mock debates in which Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, is playing the role of Romney.

"I'd love to give you some details," said campaign press secretary Jen Psaki, at the same press briefing with Carney, but she said it's just not done. "Traditionally, it's never been the case to disclose what happens at these debate preps," she said.

Actually, Mr. Obama's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe, now a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, wrote about the debate prep four years ago in his 2009 book "The Audacity to Win." In a passage quoted by the Associated Press, Plouffe said the practice sessions were held on a replica of the debate stage "practically right down to the carpeting."

Unlike Romney, who took part in 19 debates with his Republican rivals during the primaries, Mr. Obama, as an unopposed incumbent, was spared that kind of preparation. But he's had plenty of experiences of a similar kind.

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Obama debate prep details? Mum's the word