Sirius XM in talks with DirecTV
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Sirius is out of money, and have huge debts due next Tuesday. If they don't find a buyer or major investor (cash), they will be in bankruptcy.
Since Echostar bought much of the debt, odds are that Dish/Echostar/Charlie would end up with SiriusXM.
I doubt DirecTV/Liberty is going to be interested, but one never really knows.
Since Echostar bought much of the debt, odds are that Dish/Echostar/Charlie would end up with SiriusXM.
I doubt DirecTV/Liberty is going to be interested, but one never really knows.
It's either an attempt to bid up the price, or to get Liberty/DirecTV to buy them but let them remain independent. You can be sure that if Charlie takes them over, they will be completely integrated into Echostar or Dish and 75% of the staff will be gone (including those in the executive suite)
It appears Sirius XM Radio is seeking some sort of an investment from Liberty Media, which controls DirecTV, according to several media reports quoting anonymous sources close to the matter.
A deal between the satellite radio giant and the largest U.S. satellite-TV provider could help for Sirius fend off bankruptcy and an unsolicited takeover attempt from satellite company EchoStar, which has bought up Sirius' debt.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter, wrote that "though the talks between Sirius and Liberty are advanced, a deal remains far from certain. It wasn't clear how much Liberty would be willing to invest in Sirius and whether it would end up with control." Liberty Media Chief Executive John Malone is "known as a careful negotiator and is unlikely to cut a deal in haste," the Journal added.
Time is of the essence, however, for Sirius: $175 million in debt payments come due February 17. "The company is unlikely to be able to meet those obligations," The New York Times wrote.
Bloomberg cited an analyst at Stanford Group who said both EchoStar and DirecTV could use Sirius' satellite capacity to integrate radio and television services.
And PaidContent.org noted that "DirecTV already has a relationship with the satellite radio company, offering XM channels in its own packages." It added that Liberty is "in the midst of its own reorganization to gain value for assets that include DirecTV, Starz Entertainment, and Liberty Sports Holdings."
A deal between the satellite radio giant and the largest U.S. satellite-TV provider could help for Sirius fend off bankruptcy and an unsolicited takeover attempt from satellite company EchoStar, which has bought up Sirius' debt.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter, wrote that "though the talks between Sirius and Liberty are advanced, a deal remains far from certain. It wasn't clear how much Liberty would be willing to invest in Sirius and whether it would end up with control." Liberty Media Chief Executive John Malone is "known as a careful negotiator and is unlikely to cut a deal in haste," the Journal added.
Time is of the essence, however, for Sirius: $175 million in debt payments come due February 17. "The company is unlikely to be able to meet those obligations," The New York Times wrote.
Bloomberg cited an analyst at Stanford Group who said both EchoStar and DirecTV could use Sirius' satellite capacity to integrate radio and television services.
And PaidContent.org noted that "DirecTV already has a relationship with the satellite radio company, offering XM channels in its own packages." It added that Liberty is "in the midst of its own reorganization to gain value for assets that include DirecTV, Starz Entertainment, and Liberty Sports Holdings."
Charlie did publish Mel's home number during a Viacom programming dispute a few years back.
That could be one reason.
If Charlie has indeed purchased a significant amount of Sirius XM's debt, then Liberty's only real interest would be in not having to pay Charlie to keep their XM channels on DirecTV...
JosephB may have nailed it...
JosephB may have nailed it...
Mel Karmazin does not want to be fired this clown needs to go!!!!
The reason hat he is asking Direct TV to buy him out--is so that he can run the show--Direct Tv will also fire his -4959-(slur word) this clown is gone as head of Sirus XM.
The reason hat he is asking Direct TV to buy him out--is so that he can run the show--Direct Tv will also fire his -4959-(slur word) this clown is gone as head of Sirus XM.
This is very interesting, I knew Sirius XM was doing bad but not that bad. Also would the FCC even allow them to be bought out by Directv? It would def become a monopoly then, which is what the fcc was fearing at first when xm and sirius originally wanted to merge, though it would be interesting to see if something like this would go though.
Sirius XM has real prospects of becoming profitable, but the current credit crunch has them in a bind. Combine the fact that they cannot refinance their debt and the lack of new subs through car sales and Charlie has them over a barrel. I don't think DirecTV/Liberty's real concern is having to pay Dish for programming. If they had such a moral objection to paying Echostar, they could simply move back to Music Choice. I don't think their audio channels are that big of a deal in the scheme of things. I think originally they moved to XM because they have/had a stake in XM, plus there are further ties back to Hughes.
I'm sure DirecTV/Liberty wouldn't get into it just to keep it out of Charlie's hands. They'd have to believe they can make money at it.
Satellite radio and satellite TV are not the same market, so it wouldn't be a monopoly. As a matter of fact the argument can be made that being under the wing of one of the DBS companies, satellite radio would have sufficient economies of scale to not run into this problem again. The only concern I think the FCC would have (and this would especially apply to Charlie) is that they wouldn't want the buyer to shut down the radio service and use the assets for video (mobile or fixed).
I think that Directv and Dish Network should both get in on this. I think they should split the company Sirius and XM right back up in to two. I think the winner would be the customer! Thats my two cents. I left them right before the merger and haven't looked back once.
no way
Splitting up Sirius and XM would be a disaster. Ipods are what is killing XM/SIRIUS, along with poor management. Howard is paid way too much and they got into bidding wars over programing.
North America needs one sat radio service. They need to go to one hardware platform so that when peoples present radios die, they will replace them with what will be the future standard wether it is EX or Sirius who cares.
I like having them somewhat combined. I love baseball but travel a lot on Sundays late in the football season and it is nice to get the games. Rural listeners love XM/SIRIUS.
I hope Charlie gets it, and keeps it together.
Splitting up Sirius and XM would be a disaster. Ipods are what is killing XM/SIRIUS, along with poor management. Howard is paid way too much and they got into bidding wars over programing.
North America needs one sat radio service. They need to go to one hardware platform so that when peoples present radios die, they will replace them with what will be the future standard wether it is EX or Sirius who cares.
I like having them somewhat combined. I love baseball but travel a lot on Sundays late in the football season and it is nice to get the games. Rural listeners love XM/SIRIUS.
I hope Charlie gets it, and keeps it together.
It is fun to watch Charlie Ergen on these deals. He wins some and loses some, in the boardroom and the courtroom, but he's aggressive and knows his business. Else he wouldn't have amassed billions in personal holdings.
He's got the cash to put the squeeze on Sirius. They've got bandwidth that he knows he could use to make money.
This is like watching him deal with Rainbow. He got their satellite and eventually found a way to wiggle out of his contracts (though he could lose in court).
One of America's most entertaining entrepreneurs.
He's got the cash to put the squeeze on Sirius. They've got bandwidth that he knows he could use to make money.
This is like watching him deal with Rainbow. He got their satellite and eventually found a way to wiggle out of his contracts (though he could lose in court).
One of America's most entertaining entrepreneurs.
I actually think that this might be a good thing for both Directv & Sirius/XM if this happened. I really don't want Dish to get it at all.
Dish probably will get it. Who knows what the outcome will be but lost jobs are a given. That would be better than no jobs at all though.
Just took the advantage of the GM loyalty programs turned in the old and bought a new truck today, the saleman was describing how nice the XM radio was in the new truck. I joked about XM going out of business soon, they had no idea.
Will be sad to see it go but that is now the capitalism works, so be it, and let that little odd looking antenna be a constant reminder that life is a risky business.
Will be sad to see it go but that is now the capitalism works, so be it, and let that little odd looking antenna be a constant reminder that life is a risky business.
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