Thread: Sirius XM Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

Yes indeed, if Sirius files for Bankruptcy now, all that debt Charlie purchased could be worthless. It appears that Sirius XM is trying to fend off Charlie.

Not sure who to root for here.

I am. Charlie all the way!

And DJ Rob hit the nail on the head.

The stock isn't the same as cash. But let's go ahead and use the highest compensation number for Howard in your post Rad - $700 million over 5 years. That's still only 900,000 subs he needed to get to sign up. He earned a bonus for doing more than that. According to the old arbitrons when he was on terrestrial radio, his audience is mostly male with a more disposable income than most people. And remember, that doesn't include the thousands of dollars billed each day by Sirius from the commercials that run on his channels...

Originally Posted by DJ Rob

They didn't do it to "run a monopoly".

Before the merger, XM was about to go under. And Sirius wasn't much better since to keep up they spent money on VERY inflated contracts (ie NFL, Baseball, etc.) because of having XM as a competitor. They merged the two companies to try to stay in business by consolidating operating costs.

In addition to a few bad decisions and a bad economy, the 2 years it took the government to approve the merger was what really hurt satellite radio since both companies were stuck in a holding pattern.

XM has always had Baseball, Sirius never did. But they did spend alot of $$ on contracts.

The problem is that Sirius and XM competed against each other for contracts for content... The dynamic has changed now because there is no competition. If they file for bankruptcy, they should be able to restructure these deals in a big way, and they have no-one to compete against in the same sector, so they should be able to have much better deals.

The issue isn't competition in general, it's the fact that competition between these two companies resulted in bad deals to maintain relevance in the sector.

Originally Posted by duckman18561

I just ran accross this on the New York Times web site.


Sirius XM Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

By
ZACHERY KOUWE

Published: February 10, 2009

Sirius

XM Satellite Radio has been working with advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing in a move that could put pressure on the satellite company EchoStar, which owns a substantial amount of the company’s debt.

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Related

Times Topics:
Sirius XM Radio Inc.







Sirius has been working with the restructuring expert Joseph A. Bondi of Alvarez & Marsal and the bankruptcy lawyer Mark Thompson of Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett to help prepare a Chapter 11 filing, people close to the company said. The documents and analysis are close to being completed and a filing could come within days, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Sirius, whose radio stars include the popular shock jock
Howard Stern


, has also been working with the investment bank
Evercore Partners


.
Charles Ergen, who controls a satellite-television empire including the Dish Network Corporation and EchoStar, recently acquired the majority of a $300 million tranche of Sirius debt that matures next Tuesday.
Since the news about the debt purchase has emerged, questions have surfaced over whether Mr. Ergen will make a bid to purchase Sirius. The threat of a possible bankruptcy filing could force Mr. Ergen to make a formal offer for the company now if he doesn’t want to go through an auction in bankruptcy court.
It could also compel Mr. Ergen to agree to convert his debt into an ownership stake in Sirius at a higher price than he originally considered.

As an SiriusXM subscriber, I've been very disappointed in how the whole "merger" has turned out as far as the channel lineup is concerned. I've listened to both networks lineup pre-merger and what they have now. I liked the XM lineup better, especially how they butchered the former Comedy XL (150) now Rawdog.

Also got an e-mail the other day stating that their rates will increase in March by a couple of bucks per receiver. In this economy, two dollars matters to me, and I don't wish to see my money go to a grossly overpaid Howard Stern. I see the end being near for me as far as being a satellite radio customer/listener

For those of you who listen to Howard, this topic of Charlie possibly buying Sirius/XM came up on his show yesterday. Howard said he knew nothing about it and there were a lot of crazy rumors going around lately. Anyways, he put in a call to Charlie, live on the show, but couldn't get through.

Take a listen to this weeks SatelliteGuys Podcast. I talk alot and give some good information which has not been reported elsewhere. ANd so far my info has been 100% spot on.

I should also note that the podcast was recorded BEFORE Muzak filed for Bankruptcy yesterday which gives what I said even more credibility.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/satellit...ml#post1700023

What happens to my SIRI stock if they file for bankruptcy?

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

Take a listen to this weeks SatelliteGuys Podcast. I talk alot and give some good information which has not been reported elsewhere. ANd so far my info has been 10% spot on.

I should also note that the podcast was recorded BEFORE Muzak filed for Bankruptcy yesterday which gives what I said even more credibility.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/satellit...ml#post1700023

Scott, Only 10% spot on ?