Sirius XM Orbits Chapter 11

[admin]

Sirius XM Satellite radio has been working with advisers in preparation for a possible bankruptcy filing. The New York Times reported late yesterday afternoon that all the preparations for the ailing satellite radio company’s Chapter 11 filing is nearing completion. But don’t despair Sirius XM fans - there is speculation that Dish Network Chief Exec Charles Ergen might save the day.


Discuss "Sirius XM Orbits Chapter 11" here. Read the article.

[Scarriere]

If they go under, that would totally suck.

[Matt34]

It would be nice if XM would send me my $75 they owe me when I canceled the service three months ago.

[Wayde Robson]

A few extra facts about Dish Network and Sirius XM

· Charles Ergen is Chief Exec of Dish Network from which set-top-box maker EchoStar recently spun off. It's not known which company holds Sirius XM debt, Echo or Dish.

· Ergen is a former professional gambler and is apparently known for chancy business deals and fierce independence. He'll be well suited to playing this new game in which he finds himself.

· It's about more than satellite radio for Ergan - acquisition of Sirius XM will help Dish Network compete against DirecTV.

· Dish Net has a technical interest in acquiring the satellite radio company due to the superior positioning of Sirius XM satellites than their own. DirecTV also has better positioned satellites than Dish. So, Ergan wants to hold his cards close as Bankruptcy ensues betting that the longer her waits the great the discount at which he'll be able to purchase all of Sirius XM assets.

· Dish Network bought portions of the wireless spectrum last year. It's speculated they could use it be provide mobile video. Could there be potential collaboration with satellite radio technologies?

· If the company files for bankruptcy, Ergan owns enough of the company that he will be at the table for possible control of Sirius XM. It might be in his best interest to let it go that far for as deep a discount as possible.

· If Sirius XM does file Chapter 11 (and even if Ergan does an 11th hour purchase) it may spell the end of some of its high powered contracts such as Howard Stern who costs the company $500 million for five years.

[markw]

I'm glad I took a "let's see how this works out" attitude about this stuff. I'd have to have to eat those hardware expenditures. We had Sirus in a few rental cars over the past few years and I was not impressed.

Well, I guess good ole "free" analog FM will be around a bit longer.

[Rickster71]

I didn't read the article yet.
Though, I'll bet this means they will want to go with commercials to help get back in the black.
Just a thought, don't know if it was mentioned in the story.

[emorphien]

I'm not surprised and I really wouldn't care if they were gone. Never been impressed with the quality of most of the stations on Sirius I'd want to listen to. XM seemed a bit better, but neither was worth the price.

Plus I prefer to listen to a local morning chat show and there's a local college radio station that plays pretty great music with next to 0 ads (basically brief self promotion a few times an hour) as well as an ad-free Jazz station and NPR classical. They cost me nothing.

[gliz]

I had xm for a while. did not really care for it, the sound quality was really bad. And it was just one more thing that I had to set parental controls up for so my kids could safely listen to it. I will not miss it

[Alissa]

I was just beginning to like Satellite Radio...at least I liked their free demos.

[bootman]

If Sirius XM does file Chapter 11 (and even if Ergan does an 11th hour purchase) it may spell the end of some of its high powered contracts such as Howard Stern who costs the company $500 million for five years.

That 500M contract was very top heavy with stock options.
It isn't even worth 1/3 of that now with the stock price as low as it is.
But if the end game is to get rid of the "high price talent" that will only cost them heavily with sub loss.