The Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights has voiced strong opposition to any merger of XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. In his letter to the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, Senator Herb Kohl said he has concluded satellite radio is a separate market and a merger would leave it with no "viable competitive alternative." He advised both the FCC and DOJ to take "all necessary actions to deny approval of this merger and prevent the creation of this satellite radio monopoly." The letter came after a hearing on the merger …

From Apple to Avon, at least a dozen current ad campaigns are using the word "Hello" to attract attention, writes Stuart Elliott. "The fact that several campaigns for disparate brands are based on the same word reinforces the notion that similarity is often the sincerest form of advertising," he notes. For Allen Adamson, managing director at Landor Associates in New York, a brand and corporate identity consulting firm, centering a campaign on "Hello" represents "a friendly, more engaging way to connect with consumers, but it's pretty overused. The first few might have been effective as a 'pay attention to me' …

It was a big week for ABC in the ratings game as the network won a close race for tops in prime time -- and watched its evening newscast win by its widest margin in six years. Season finales for "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" helped the Alphabet Network to its first weekly win of the season, with the exception of the one when it broadcast the Academy Awards. ABC hasn't won during the May sweeps since 2000. The success sent Fox into third place last week, with "American Idol" losing audience, albeit not so much among the coveted 18-to-49-year-old …

WPP will pick up the £2.5 million ($4.9 million) tab for a libel case brought by Martin Sorrell, who sued two former Italian colleagues for allegedly running an online hate campaign against him. He accepted £120,000 ($237,000) in damages to settle the case, and the defendants did not have to admit to any liability. BBC business editor Robert Peston notes that many thought WPP would split the bill with Sorrell, but the board decided to pay it all. The case pitted him against Italian firm Fullsix Spa and two former executives: Marco Benatti and Marco Tinelli. It …

In what could be a blow to conventional wisdom, teenagers are reading more magazines than their elders, at least according to a study by McPheters & Co. The consulting firm says its research shows that young adults read more magazines than older people. "Because many established titles have seen the median age of their readers increase, there has been a misperception that magazine readers are getting older," says Rebecca McPheters, president. "While younger adults tend to read different titles than those in older age groups, the fact that they read more magazines overall is very exciting." …

Vietnam is stepping up efforts to attract tourists with a proposed ad buy on CNN. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism is asking the government to fund a $400,000 campaign to run 30-second spots for three months on the cable net. The spot would air each day during CNN's peak hours. According to the head of VNAT, CNN will make the ad free of charge if the media budget comes through. If the plan gets the nod from higher-ups in Hanoi, the campaign will start in the third quarter. Through April, more than 1.4 million foreign visitors arrived …

Publicis has come late to the party in Smith Barney's estimated $35 million account review, bringing the number of finalists to four, insiders says. The process has been extended to give the shop time to prepare for its presentation, while the other agencies still standing -- McCann Erickson, Young & Rubicam and Gardner Nelson & Partners -- pitch this week and next. Publicis will bat clean-up shortly afterward. Creative and media duties are both in play. The account popped open when Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos snared creative duties for the global wealth and investment management division of Bank …

General Mills will sponsor a new half-hour show on the women-focused channel We TV that features couples moving in together. "She's Moving In" debuts in July. The home-decorating show is about cohabiting couples and their battles over decorating their space. The food behemoth will get in-show ads, along with billboards and banner ads online, while Yoplait yogurt brand will be worked into the show and consumed on-screen by designers and women featured in each episode.

Canon is breaking a pair of new ads behind its PowerShot SD750 Digital ELPH camera that feature tennis star Maria Sharapova. Directed by Joe Pytka, the spots -- "Banter" and "Dolce" -- are part of a campaign that also encompasses print, online and event marketing. The spots follow Sharapova as she tries to take photos of her Pomeranian named Dolce, chasing the dog around a tennis court, her house and her pool. Out this week, they will air together during the NBA Finals and other cable shows, while print hits in early June in publications including Entertainment Weekly …

While its decision to move "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" to cable net USA raised some eyebrows last week, it's not unusual. If the upfront presentations were any indication, NBC is not the only broadcast network moving to cable, or at least looking a lot like a cable network. A network's stable of shows defines its broadcast brand, but in cable, networks are defined by their genre or audience profile. And the broadcast nets are now starting to take on personalities that fit into niches. Producers start to pitch more like-minded shows to those networks hoping to …