The last barrier preventing the long proposed merger between satellite radio providers, Sirius and XM, was removed Friday night when the FCC granted approval. The merger will create one satellite provider with a combined subscriber base of 18 million.

The approval does come with several conditions.

The companies will have to cap their subscription prices for three years, allow a la carte channel subscription alongside packages, offer more education and minority programming, and allow other manufacturers to build and sell transmitters.

What this means for bluegrass listeners is still to be seen. Hopefully it will mean better programing at lower prices. That’s what the companies promised.

You can read the full story about the FCC approval at the Washingtonpost.com.