Report: Veteran TV Exec Mel Karmazin Is on the Way Out at Sirius XM

[dfergie]

John Malone's Liberty Media, which is angling to gain control of the satellite-radio company, is gearing up to replace Karmazin, The Post has learned.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/mel_on_sirius_outs_as_malone_moves_jfZiqBY554MukZV1GIRPNI

 

[navychop]

I wonder if Malone will take the company in a completely different direction.

 

[whitewolf8214]

I have been wondering that also and where

 

[Juan]

Hope so..Its way too much like commercial radio for my likeing

 

[navychop]

I suspect Malone likes selling more commercials.

 

[riffjim4069]

I suspect Malone likes selling more commercials.

Great! Make it a free service and I'll get a Sirius XM radio...

 

[Juan]

I suspect Malone likes selling more commercials.

I have yet to see one on his "encore or starz" channels

 

[navychop]

Good note. But he appears to think he can make SXM a cash cow and I suspect his options at increasing revenue are limited. I don't think he can raise our rates; they're pretty high already (IMHO).

 

[DustoMan]

Headline of this article made me chuckle:
Sirius XM Would Be OK If Mel Karmazin Leaves, Liberty Media CEO Says

Duh.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

SiriusXM would probably be better off without Mel.

He took a great service in turned it into subscription FM radio. I want my real satellite radio back! Give me back the big playlists and the channels you couldnt hear anywhere else!

 

[JerseyMatt]

That's why I finally dumped them. I was a very early adopter because I was sick of FM and it was a promising platform.. Had XM since 2000. I watched it get better and better until the merger. Then I watched Mel run it straight into the ground, through his lies, poor business decisions, and endless sucking of Howard Stern's crotch. The rate hike was the last straw. Now I have Slacker and it fits my needs for $3 a month.

Sent from my Galaxy SII using some Tappity Talkity thing.

 

[Bobby]

I just hooked up my wife's car XM, restart, for $27.44 for 6 months. When that's done, I'm done, again....

 

[The Fat Man]

Great day for the O&A crowd who can't stand Mel.

 

[navychop]

Regardless, he took two faltering companies and made one profitable company.

 

[The Fat Man]

That can be argued. Some say that XM would have done all right if it stayed separate.

 

[JerseyMatt]

Regardless, he took two faltering companies and made one profitable company.

Profitable??? No. Not even close. He took a failing company (Sirius) and a stable company (XM) and turned them into one huge train wreck through his reckless spending and FM business model. Sirius was hemorrhaging cash before the merger because of all the talentless hacks he gave ridiculous contracts to (Howard Stern, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, and Martha Stewart to name a few).

True, XM had yet to turn a profit at the time of the merger, but at least they were cutting losses and were within a few quarters of going positive. They were the ones in better financial shape.

That merger was illegal to begin with. It was only approved because Mel lied to the SEC and DoJ.



Sent from my Galaxy SII using some Tappity Talkity thing.

 

[Juan]

Profitable??? No. Not even close. He took a failing company (Sirius) and a stable company (XM) and turned them into one huge train wreck through his reckless spending and FM business model. Sirius was hemorrhaging cash before the merger because of all the talentless hacks he gave ridiculous contracts to (Howard Stern, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, and Martha Stewart to name a few).

True, XM had yet to turn a profit at the time of the merger, but at least they were cutting losses and were within a few quarters of going positive. They were the ones in better financial shape.

That merger was illegal to begin with. It was only approved because Mel lied to the SEC and DoJ.



Sent from my Galaxy SII using some Tappity Talkity thing.

XM was tied to GM..(sales wise).. When GM sales collapsed so did XM..Sirius was a late comer to the game and was really starting to gain some momentum b4 the merger

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

XM at the time had a few million customers at the time, while Sirius had something like 200,000.

I liked XM much better than Sirius almost everything everything was better, the programming (I miss IT), the equipment, the sound quality and it had a better signal.

A lot of people might hate me for saying this but it was Howard Stern who saved Sirius. Without him the merger would have never happened.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[AngryStamen]

A lot of people might hate me for saying this but it was Howard Stern who saved Sirius. Without him the merger would have never happened.

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100% agree with Scott on this. Howard Stern's arrival at Sirius resulted in millions of new subscribers, effectively saving the company.

I do wish though, that he would be on the air more than a measly 3 days a week (when he's not on vacation, that is!)