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Sirius XM looks to DirecTV to hold off Echostar takeover

12 February 2009 11:59 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 6 comments

As debt-ridden Sirius XM Satellite Radio gets closer to declaring bankruptcy they appear to be fighting back against a takeover attempt by Echostar. Echostar, who owns much of Sirius XM's $3.25 billion in debt, seems positioned for a buyout (or more accurately exchange of debt for stock. But Reuters is reporting that Sirius XM executives are in talks with Liberty Media looking for a better deal.

The primary point of disagreement with Echostar's Charlie Ergen, according to Reuters, is whether current Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin would keep his job. Liberty Media controls DirecTV and owns 50% of that company. Echostar manufactures satellite TV receivers and DVRs for DirecTV's major competitor, Dish Network, and until last year was part of that company.

It's unclear at this time whether this is a serious possibility or just a last ditch effort by Sirius XM executives to keep their jobs. It may help that one member of their board of directors, Eddy Hartenstein, is also the former CEO and Chairman of DirecTV's board, and served as their President for over a decade prior to that.

Permalink to this article | Topic: MP3 & Digital Audio

Sirius XM customers will pay fees for royalties (2 October 2009)

Sirius XM app coming to iPhone (14 March 2009)

Liberty Media rescues Sirius from bankruptcy (17 February 2009)

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Discuss this article!
ripxrush (Junior Member) 13 February 2009 1:27
I dont care as long as i keep my XM radio in some sorts with most fo the same programing! Just dealt with Sirius merger/buy out with/of XM & minor program changes & have gotten used to the changes! [ + quote]
philipman (Senior Member) 13 February 2009 12:11
Same as long as normal operations stay the same as they are now, I am fine with them being took over. But still it is kind of sad because I think Sirius XM is a really good company. Maybe if the damn FCC let them merge when they wanted too, instead of delaying it constantly they would not be in this mess. [ + quote]
empulse (Newbie) 13 February 2009 16:54
Sirius / XM merger was crap. We were promised no changes in service, no increases, everything would stay the same. Only difference is we would have more options... so we were told. Now the handful of channel that I did like (on XM) are gone, or reformed into some bastardization that is only the same in name. XM staff have been slashed, and Karmazan is running it into the ground. Merger? No. Takeover is more like it. I would love nothing more to see Karmazan on the street. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 13 February 2009 16:55
cartucho (Junior Member) 15 February 2009 13:35
I stand with OBAMA and congress. Who cares who takes posesion of the company as long as they say bye bye to the CEO. Why in the world a clown like that should be given another chance after he/she took down a company based on their incompetence. Now that is just stupid!! The reality is that all CEOs make promises to make things better for everyone but bottom line is they are all looking after their own pockets!! [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 15 February 2009 18:48
*Originally posted by cartucho:* I stand with OBAMA and congress. Who cares who takes posesion of the company as long as they say bye bye to the CEO. Why in the world a clown like that should be given another chance after he/she took down a company based on their incompetence. Now that is just stupid!! The reality is that all CEOs make promises to make things better for everyone but bottom line is they are all looking after their own pockets!! well they are on the 60th floor with nothing better to do. [ + quote]
DADEO1 (Member) 17 February 2009 8:44
Now comes an extra charge to listen on-line. If I have to pay for this I will, but how about making all the channels avaliable on-line. [ + quote]