Sirius Could File For Bankruptcy As Early As Tuesday
 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_166869.html


Financially strapped Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Friday that it could file for bankruptcy as early as Tuesday if it cannot successfully negotiate with the holders of its debt.

While the satellite radio company said it has exchanged $172.5 million of debt maturing in December for new debt due in 2011, it still has about $175 million coming due this Sunday.

Sirius is fighting against attempts for control by Charlie Ergen, the chief executive of Dish Network Corp. and sister company EchoStar Corp. Ergen bought much of a $300 million batch of discounted Sirius bonds that come due next week. Sirius had rejected a previous offer by Ergen for control of the company.

A bankruptcy filing for Sirius would give it the right to terminate contracts with on-air talent, such as Martha Stewart and Howard Stern, who has a five-year, $500 million deal. A Chapter 11 filing also could crimp Sirius' growth because subscribers might shy away from a company in bankruptcy. Sirius has nearly 20 million listeners and provides a wide range of music, sports and talk radio.

Liberty Media Corp. is in talks with Sirius about possibly investing in the company, a move that could fend off Ergen.

But the DirecTV Group Inc., a Dish rival controlled by Liberty Chairman John Malone, is not involved in the negotiations, according to a person close to the situation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk about the negotiations. Liberty's participation in the talks was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Analysts said they didn't think DirecTV would want a satellite radio business or its satellites. DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite TV company, has launched new satellites and is focusing on enhancing its TV service.

Sirius and Liberty declined to comment.

this is like 5 day old news.

Funny stuff.

One of their big problems is their subscriber numbers are complete bullshit. I have had XM radio for years, and at one point I had something like 20 units, since I liked to put them in the porn stores I ran. When I left the company I ran I canceled 18 of the units, and this was mid 2006. Here it is 2009 and I still have most of these units, and they all still work. I have called in the past because I was worried about getting billed, and sure enough the units were canceled, I never received another bill, but they all still work.

Then I did a little reading up and XM and Sirius were inflating subscriber numbers by keeping canceled subscriptions active, even though they were no longer charging the customer. I'm sure they had their reasons, be it advertising, proving who had the bigger dick, or XM trying to make itself look healthier than it was for the Sirius takeover...

I fucking love my Sirius radio ..hate reading that shit