WSJ’s Amy Schatz files this dispatch from the Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin remained mum Thursday, when asked by reporters at a news conference about when he might begin circulating an item on the 334-days-and-counting merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

Real work on crafting a compromise for conditions on the deal won’t begin in earnest until Martin’s staff produces a draft order and circulates it among the other four FCC commissioners. Even then, it will take at least three weeks for the FCC to come to some kind of agreement, if previous transactions are any indication.

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The FCC’s deliberative pace in considering the deal hasn’t been matched by interested parties, however, which have been bombarding the agency with condition requests — ideas for merger conditions seem to be growing by the week.

Public interest groups have been pressing for conditions mandating price caps for a set time and channel set-asides for non-commercial broadcasters. They also like the idea of requiring XM/Sirius to set aside a certain percentage of channels for commercial leasing. That said, they haven’t necessarily jumped on board with a plan advocated by minority-owned private-equity firm Georgetown Partners, which wants a 20% channel capacity set-aside for a minority-owned company such as itself.

Last week, a group of influential congressmen told FCC commissioners that they should require XM/Sirius to make their service compatible with other consumer electronics, not just devices made by manufacturers with exclusive licensing agreements. They also want new XM/Sirius radios to also come equipped with HD radio capability — which would allow consumers to listen to free local radio stations which are broadcasting in high def.

On Wednesday, a group of attorney generals spent 45 minutes or so on the phone with FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, about their concerns with the deal. Republican Rob McKenna, Washington State’s AG and Connecticut’s Democratic AG Richard Blumenthal joined assistant AGs from eight other states to press the commissioner to vote against the deal, or at the very least, place tough conditions on it similar to what the congressmen asked for last week.

“They have the feeling that the Justice Department didn’t pay proper deference to their concerns when (DOJ) issued its opinion,” Adelstein told reporters. The Justice Department approved the merger without conditions on March 24.

“I think it’s very important that the FCC after such dismissive treatment by the Department of Justice take extra consideration into account about the very legitimate concerns that the AGs are raising about the XM-Sirius merger,” Adelstein said.