Sirius XM Thinking About Banckruptcy

The merged satellite radio company Sirius XM has hired advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing according to this article in the New York Times. Saddled with $3.25 billion in debt, bankruptcy might be the only out for the company that has yet to make a profit. Speculation is that subscribers will continue to get their feeds but that high priced talent such as Howard Stern and Martha Stewart may be casualties of the process. “I’m not trying to paint the rosy picture, because we have challenges connected to our liquidity and certainly our stock price is dreadful,” Mel Karmazin, chief of Sirius XM said in December. “But, you know, our revenues are growing double digits. We’re growing subscribers. We’re not losing subscribers.”

Sirius Gets DOJ Nod On XM Purchase

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has approved Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s proposed $5-billion (U.S.) buyout of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. but the purchase will still require the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to close the deal. “The likely evolution of technology in the future, including the expected introduction in the next several years of mobile broadband Internet devices, made it even more unlikely that the transaction would harm consumers in the longer term,” the Justice Department said. The Globe and Mail has more details here.