http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver...176000^1793277
Mentions possible bundling with sirius, cooperating with Ergen and lots of other wacky stuff. definitely worth the read.
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http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver...176000^1793277
Mentions possible bundling with sirius, cooperating with Ergen and lots of other wacky stuff. definitely worth the read.
He mentions leaving the door open to work with Dish's Ergen and said...
Quote:
Whatever the future holds for Sirius XM, Malone expresses confidence about the outcome for Liberty Media.
“We think we’re going to win,” he said.
here the whole thing in case you get the 'subscriber only' thing:
John Malone isn’t sure what moves his Liberty Media Corp. will make now that it has a say in the future of Sirius XM satellite radio — and he doesn’t rule out partnering with Dish Network Corp.’s Charlie Ergen, who Liberty Media prevented from buying Sirius XM.
Englewood-based Liberty Media recently rescued Sirius XM Radio Inc. from bankruptcy and a possible takeover bid by Ergen, whose company, also based in Englewood, is the main satellite TV rival to Liberty Media-controlled DirecTV Group Inc.
Beyond the financial and competitive benefits to Liberty Media (NASDAQ: LCAPA), the combination of satellite TV and radio likely means new entertainment bundles for consumers and the possibility of new kinds of mobile video services.
In a rare interview — and his first published since Liberty Media refinanced Sirius XM’s near-term debt — Malone said Liberty Media is open-minded about strategy for the 18.8 million-subscriber satellite radio company.
“This is not a DirecTV play, this is a Liberty play on Sirius,” Malone said. “It may evolve into some involvement by DirecTV. It could mean some involvement by Charlie (Ergen) ... Right at the moment, we just saw something we were interested in and decided we should get involved.”
Malone, 68, founder and chairman of Liberty Media, is a famed dealmaker who built Englewood-based TCI into the nation’s largest cable TV company and then sold it.
Liberty Media invested $530 million in New York City-based Sirius XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) in a two-stage deal announced Feb. 17.
That paid off Sirius’ debt on the very day the company was in danger of defaulting. The Wall Street Journal reported Ergen held $300 million of Sirius’ near-term debt, positioning himself to move for control of Sirius or acquire some of its assets in bankruptcy.
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei and Mel Karmazin, Sirius XM’s CEO, negotiated the rescue package to keep Ergen at bay.
Sirius XM will owe Liberty Media 15 percent annual interest on the first stage’s $280 million. Accepting the second stage meant creating 12.5 million shares of preferred Sirius XM stock for Liberty Media, giving it the right to fill as many as six seats on Sirius XM’s 15-director board and to convert the preferred stock into a 40 percent common stock stake in Sirius XM.
“Initially it’s a financial play, but it’s also strategic,” Malone said. “Obviously we have a large stake in DirecTV, and how Sirius could play into that is an important consideration, but it’s not on the table today.
“What’s on the table today is let’s understand Sirius and its assets. Let’s help it avoid either bankruptcy or a takeover by somebody they didn’t want to be taken over by, and let’s study it for a while and then decide what the right moves forward are.”
Sirius XM’s services could be bundled with satellite TV in new ways, Malone said, and its technological assets might be used to help satellite TV players offer service combinations that are more competitive with telephone and cable company bundles.
Those opportunities could have disappeared for Liberty Media had Ergen taken over Sirius XM.
“It’s as simple as that,” Malone said. “If we got our involvement in it, we keep open whatever that strategic direction is. Whether that involves DirecTV, today I don’t have a clue. And if Charlie has a great idea on how to exploit the asset, we may end up doing something with Charlie.
“We thought this was an opportunity to use our financial engineering skills to keep [Sirius XM] alive and independent.”
Jimmy Schaeffler, a satellite industry expert with The Carmel Group in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., isn’t surprised Liberty Media would consider Ergen a potential partner.
Beyond programming, Sirius XM owns satellite capacity, valuable broadcast spectrum and a network of ground repeaters to carry its signal.
Ergen, in an August interview with the Denver Business Journal, expressed enthusiasm for satellite-to-mobile phone video service. Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) owns broadcast spectrum suited for that, and Sirius XM’s infrastructure theoretically could be modified for such a service.
And EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS), Dish Network’s sister company that Ergen also controls, is positioned to be a technology innovator for the TV industry — something Liberty Media is not, Schaeffler said.
“I think the better player to develop out the technological aspects of a Sirius deal would’ve been Ergen and EchoStar,” Schaeffler said. “But that’s water under the bridge, and it’s Malone now — hopefully he can make creative use of it,”
Schaeffler expects news about some jointly marketed bundle of satellite entertainment between DirecTV, Sirius and, possibly, Dish Network to emerge this year, he said.
And renewed merger talks between DirecTV and Dish Network wouldn’t surprise him either. Ergen tried to buy DirecTV in 2002, but the federal government stopped the deal over the competitive ramifications of a satellite TV monopoly.
Telephone and cable TV giants have become so successful selling bundled voice, video and broadband services that Schaeffler predicts a merger of satellite entertainment companies might not be stopped today.
Interviewed just prior to Sirius XM closing on the second stage of funding from Liberty, Malone said he had not tried to talk with Ergen.
“The government might look askance at two bidders talking with one another,” he said. “And I’m sure the Sirius folks wouldn’t like two potential acquirers or investors to be conspiring with each other.”
Whatever the future holds for Sirius XM, Malone expresses confidence about the outcome for Liberty Media.
“We think we’re going to win,” he said.
"I guarantee you that Dish and Direct TV would have liked to have the merger done." Mel
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ma...ger/1742551553
It appears to have been in the works for a long time!!!
Thank you. I forgot about that quote. More fuel for my viewpoint. Thank you. Hopefully stubborn longs like John, and Cos1000 will see that we were taken now, and this was not "bad timing" or bad economy, or anythign else. This has been in the works looks like for a year AT LEAST NOW. Im actually glad to be right, as it shows that siriusxm has powerful allies that have been working with them for a while. We got illegally screwed out of 40% ownership, any which way you look at it. I will never back down on this belief, and its the real story why this stock tanked. It tanked because those companies wanted it to tank. Made it easier to acquire interest, allowed bypassing of a vote, and enabled big money to buy in cheap, while helping the shorts achieve great gains(a condition of the financing agreements.)(GS, JP Morgan, who knows, but Im sure going to at least include GS here.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopeful
Yes, they werent able to see shares for debt at a higher cost, but that seems to be working out fine for them now. They are still around, alive, and financed. Ownership transferred to Malone, and institutions, while we were left holding the bag at .50 cents and higher.
Now you got it. That is exactly what Micheal Hartleib has been saying all along. I hope you have joined how group.Quote:
Originally Posted by relmor2003
Well lets see here... "theoretically"... I guess that means launching the space shuttle up to the satellite, retrieving it, changing the antenna's and transponders on it, then putting it back into orbit.Quote:
Originally Posted by huppophonic
Bet that will cost a pretty penny. :)
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Never. I trust no one who appears on FOX tv thats an "investor". I also dont believe he understands the end game either. Its not to crush the companys stock permanently, just temporarily. They could care less how fast or slow it goes up now. Only one direction left. If you realized what was going on, you could have gotten out much higher if you were a long term bagholder, instead of whine and complain about it. Sure it sucks what happened, but his lawsuit isnt helping his shares any. If hes hoping to win in court, hes as foolish as a man can be.Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusXMInvestor
These reporters just throw this crap out there -- without actually doing some research into what they're saying.
Example: This reporter from Philly.com, suggesting that Ergen could "reconfigure" the XM satellites -- just as he did when he bought the Voom satellite for use with Dish Network... read this:
"Ergen's no stranger to this sort of thing. In 2005, he bought the satellite that had beamed the short-lived Voom HD TV service and repurposed the bird to deliver more Dish TV channels - including, for a spell, some Voom HD programming."
"If he can grab the Sirius XM satellites, which include a couple (XM-3 and XM-4) that are in very good positions to blanket the 48 contiguous states plus populous chunks of Canada, he could reconfigure the system to carry more local high-definition TV channels to Dish customers."
http://www.philly.com/philly/enterta.../39654972.html
So what? What the reporter didn't tell you is that Ergen didn't "repurpose" the bird -- they just renamed it from Rainbow-1 to Echostar-12, and began using it for Dish Network offerings. That satellite was designed for use in the C-Band (4-8GHz) and Ku-Band (12-18GHz)... Dish is using it exclusively in the Ku-Band now -- using the LICENSES that Voom owned and were transferred to Dish when they took them over.
The XM satellites are ALL designed for use in the S-Band (2-4GHz), more specifically the lower end of the S-Band. Their transmitting antenna's and their transponders are all designed for that portion of the S-Band. There is currently no DBS allocation in the S-band either. DBS is allocated to the Ku-Band at around 17GHz (but I believe being moved down to 12GHz); Dish picked up the Zoom license that were also in the Ku-Band; Dish also made big headlines when it bought up a batch of 700MHz licenses in the UHF band.
So even if Ergen got the XM satellites -- they can't be "repurposed" for broadcast in other locations of the spectrum, such as the UHF band like Jimmy Schaeffler suggested. Shame on him for not doing better research.
The "spectrum suited for that" (satellite to mobile phone video service, which the author brought up) is referring to the batch of licenses that Dish picked up in the 700MHz band. That is obviously nowhere near the S-Band, where XM's satellites are. So that "spectrum suited for that" won't be able to use those satellites.
The best they could do is to lobby to change the XM licenses to a DBS license; but then they'd have to have that portion of the S-band be re-allocated to allow it in the first place... and as I noted before, it is likely that Congress or the FCC would more likely reauction the license -- before just changing the allocation to something else. After all, auctions is how the FCC makes money.
In the end?
All this for just 12.5MHz of bandwidth? The Dish and DTV 17GHz licenses cover 500MHz! 12.5MHz is peanuts, comparatively... especially since the XM signal is split into thirds and the throughput of the satellites is just 3.4Mb/s.
It kills me when I read reporters throwing this crap around making it sound so easy and that it could be done - when they have no idea of what they're talking about!
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Nope, can't be done. Any good conspirist knows that a human couldn't survive passing through the van allen belt.Quote:
Originally Posted by homer985
Quote:
Originally Posted by relmor2003
Easy does it.You are wrong on this one. Hartlieb is delusional. Mel was referring to the squashed merger between DISH and DirectTV...
Quote:
Originally Posted by homer985
homer, you have been reading to many of my post man. While funny as hell it was a little to cruel for you. If I did not know better I would think that was me posting.
Ah yes, the conspiracy theorists that believe that humans didn't land on the moon. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by buddylee
It's the full moon...Quote:
Originally Posted by john
Shhh, they might be listening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by relmor2003
relmar, I am sorry I have a little trouble believing that article when they say:
"That paid off Sirius’ debt on the very day the company was in danger of defaulting. The Wall Street Journal reported Ergen held $300 million of Sirius’ near-term debt, positioning himself to move for control of Sirius or acquire some of its assets in bankruptcy." I ask you what in here sounds false with 380 million in COH as of the end of the year. Are you going to tell me 380 - 173 = a negitive or not enough.
P.S. As a side note, If you recall as everyone else (to include yourself) was saying wooohooo. I said that the Malone deal sucked. I even had to argue it with YOU.
Your right. But just because Hartlieb is right about some aspects, doesnt mean I agree with his methods or believe his sincerity. See Brandon, if you put the lawsuit with a "diver" plantiff, who has no real interest in winning, you direct a lot of energy against SiriusXM into a distracted and never fullfilled cause. Your right though, that comment was about the merger. I digress. Everything I said above is true though, could care less who agrees with me. Ergen might not have been a willing participant, but Clayton pulls his strings on this deal. Probably even convinced him to make Mel an offer he " has to refuse" therefore flying into the waiting arms of Malone, their savior. How can you not think Mel is part of this takedown? Really? Explain the 11th hour BK scare then, for absolutely no reason. Those things just dont happen in the real world. Things are discussed months in advance, and their deadlines are much sooner than the deadlines we think of.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Matthews
Guys...
Let's don't forget this is MSM talking. Always has to be taken with a grain of salt. Only thing I usually trust is such articles is if blurbs have quotes around them. If so, MSM had better be accurate or else. Given that thesis, this is the most we can accept from this article and from the deal itself:
>>“Initially it’s a financial play, but it’s also strategic,” Malone said. “Obviously we have a large stake in DirecTV, and how Sirius could play into that is an important consideration, but it’s not on the table today.
“What’s on the table today is let’s understand Sirius and its assets. Let’s help it avoid either bankruptcy or a takeover by somebody they didn’t want to be taken over by, and let’s study it for a while and then decide what the right moves forward are.”<<
This is all anyone can glean from the overall deal at this time...unless you're Malone or Maffei and you know more than you are telling. Though I don't think that's the case. I totally do not believe Ergen and Malone are in bed together--on anything. These are rivals in every way. Right now John Malone is basking in the glow of his "takeaway" from Ergen. This blurb is total crap:
>>"And if Charlie has a great idea on how to exploit the asset, we may end up doing something with Charlie."
“We thought this was an opportunity to use our financial engineering skills to keep [Sirius XM] alive and independent.”
Jimmy Schaeffler, a satellite industry expert with The Carmel Group in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., isn’t surprised Liberty Media would consider Ergen a potential partner.<<
The second graph is correct but the first and third are a great example of wild MSM conjecture. The reason the second graph is accurate is because Malone wins, wins, wins by keeping SIRI out of BK and independent with him having a huge stake in the co. He knows thie company is at it's nadir in every way and it's only up from here. And by keeping SIRI indie, he doesn't have to lift a finger (except things like Maffei cheeleading on CNBC) to continue to have a stake in a company that will only continue to grow in value. It makes no sense for him to either own this outright and asume all that responsibility and heavy lifting, or pick at the bones in BK court. He made the perfect play and all he had to do was write a check. That's genius smart my friends, and will pay off dearly a few years from now. As far as that first graph, all Malone means by that is he might, MAYBE IF HE FEELS LIKE IT, consider someday BUYING something from Charlie, not them working together on anything. That my friends will be a cold day in hell--those egos are waaay too big. And probably what he means moreover is 'if Charlie bows to me and sells me his Dish operation on the cheap'. LOL. That's MY not so wild conjecture..
sl62,Quote:
Originally Posted by sl62
Excellent post. Pretty much my thoughts when I read it yeterday as well. MALONE CHOOSES HIS WORDS FOR A PURPOSE! I feel ever more confident that Malone knows alot more than he speaks of as to future plans as well.
You guys are both right. Hartlieb is delusional as just another investor that got burned as is pissed about it. He forgot to do (or he overlooked in) his due diligence and paid a hefty price for it. Anyone with losses in this SP did the same thing. Rel, I also wrote earlier about Haretlieb's appearance on FBN..that was a joke an made FBN look stupid. I was shocked they allowed it but in the end they know they made a bad decision trawling for ratings away from CNBC. They thought they could scoop CNBC and they got burned. I feel the same about this "movie" I have heard about. The authors of that better watch it. It has a high potential of looking like just another whiney bitch IMHO. No way Mel will appear in such a thing when he's a Wall Street insider. And yes, we all know he knew this SP was going down when he first joined SIRI and did the 2004 $300M Feb '09 Note deal with GS. Why?, cause of the short that goes with it. Perfectly legal. Since Charles allows us graphics here's a 5 year chart. I put in red markers to show this stock has been going down since the end of 2004. Many of us know this but sometimes it helps to see it. The GS hedge was on as of that time. Then the LBO hedge sealed the deal and took this SP from $9 to $.03 (in AH)/ .05 officially. That my friends is one hell of a short payday. But the short was on the SP from that earlier deal on. The charts don't lie. And there isn't a courtroom that will deny that this is legal. It's stated in the various prospecti and it's up to investors to know what kind of deals in which the company has engaged. The company discloses all aspects of these deals in filings. So how can anyone think they can take this company to court? It's locked up tight. I realize these IB deals that use a hedge are dirty little secrets cause no MSM seems to want to report on them. I have repeatedly tried to get Tyler or Brandon or Slick Rick to report on this aspect but neither thinks it's relevant enough I guess. Too busy focusing on the fundamentals! Ahhh, but that's how it's supposed to work. So mission accomplished! You wonder why yesterday the SP wasn't allowed over .20 (not even .0001 over .20 LOL!). Say hello to my little friend the 2014 LBO hedge. It's not just MM manipulation for no reason. Yes. MM's will play with dumb money, but that hedge is still alive and kicking and will be in play. The difference? What is now in the indie investors favor is instead of the hedge slowly drifting us down, it will be in force to keep a ceiling on a stock that will be slowly dirfting back higher. If it were not for that hedge, this SP may very well be .80 TODAY.Quote:
Originally Posted by relmor2003