SIRI Intraday Updates for the Week of 11/03/08

[xitvp]

I recently bought shares of Sirius (about a month ago) thinking that the product was WAY to good for this stock to stay at the price it is.

This is seriously one of the more frustrating situations I have been involved in. The market is green and our stock continues to be red....and this repeats day after day.

I really feel for all of you who got in early who have been going through this so long. This must be driving you crazy.....I'm going to stay in because I believe in the product, and I am curious to see the upcoming financials when they come out, but man this stock is like a freakin' circus.....

[Demian]

It's being manipulated. Something very strange and suspect about the way it trades The analysts seem like they are in on it and some even think that Sirius management is in on it.......

What a sad slow motion train wreck SIRI has been.......with so much promise the whole time too.

Can Q3 really be as bad as these analysts think? Those "Best Of" packages didn't hit the market until the very end of Q3 - like the last day I think, so I don't see too much extra juice from that. Q2 was pretty bad.....can Q3 be worse?

[Demian]

Those silly Motley Fools are at it again..........

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27535227/

".....Those who fall victim are the same people who have written to us personally to accuse us of manipulating popular, high-volume stocks such as Sirius XM Radio. (Hint: We haven't. We won't. We never will.)"

[Demian]

Michael Hartleib's lawsuit is getting tons of press.....

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/conte...21b2836d49e76c

Shareholders File Suit Against Sirius
November 03, 2008 - Legal and Management

By Jeffrey Yorke, Radio and Records

Orange County, Calif., realtor and stock investor Michael Hartleib has formed a group of more than 500 Sirius and XM shareholders who bill themselves as "Save Sirius" and say the Sirius XM managers led by Mel Karmazin have unjustly enriched themselves at shareholders' expense.

Hartleib, who months ago warned that a merger between the two satcasters would spell only trouble for the companies' shareholders, is responsible for encouraging the group to file a derivative suit on behalf of shareholders in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. It was ignited by Sirius XM's SEC filing two weeks ago in which the satcaster said it would ask for shareholder approval to dilute SIRI shares by expanding the outstanding share pool to 8 billion and then have a reverse stock split of up to one share for every 50 owned.

"We are working to gain control of our company by seeking to remove current members of the board as well as top executive Mel Karmazin," said Hartleib, speaking for Save Sirius and its members.

Hartleib, who months ago told R&R he had invested more than $100,000 in shares of both Sirius and XM, has voiced great concern that, merged, the new company's share value would drop to the point where it would be almost worthless and easy for a large investor to swoop up and take the company private, robbing earlier investors of any possible equity and profit.

"It is clear that management under Mr. Karmazin's leadership has an agenda to steal this company from its shareholders," says Save Sirius in its press release announcing the suit. It accuses Sirius XM of "locking their shareholders into the longest merger delay in history; preventing the corporation from seeking alternatives or potential suitors; failing to commercially introduce interoperable radios; insisting on going forward with the merger at any and all costs; and consummating the merger, issuing 300 million shares to the financiers of XM's debt to be sold short on the open market."

The investor group says Karmazin and the board "have severely damaged shareholder value in violation of their fiduciary duties. Shareholders have lost over 90% of their value under Mr. Karmazin's leadership."

Adds Hartleib, "In light of the aforementioned, it is clear that they have lost sight of their obligations to shareholders and have breached and will continue to breach their fiduciary duties in the future. We, as a group, will not stand for this and will use any means possible to prevent and preclude them from stealing this company from its rightful owners -- we the shareholders."

Sirius XM had not responded to R&R's calls for comment at press time.

[Demian]

Another couple of daily worthless SIRI slams from The Motley Fool with my comments I left under each article...

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...d-balloon.aspx

On November 04, 2008, at 2:44 PM, DemianBohemian wrote:
Another worthless daily slam piece on SIRI from The Motley Fool. The same people that were recommending XM as a stand alone company to their paid subscribers at over $30 a share....
Can you say "pump and dump"?

http://www.fool.com/investing/small-...a-mistake.aspx

On November 04, 2008, at 2:47 PM, DemianBohemian wrote:
Do you guys at The Motley Fool hate yourselves for recommending XM to your paid subscribers at over $30 a share? Will you hate yourselves in the future for slamming SIRI down here at these levels all this time?

[Demian]

http://www.betanews.com/article/Amid...uit/1225824757

Amid a perfect storm, Sirius XM faces a shareholder lawsuit
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews
November 4, 2008, 2:06 PM

It's difficult to make the case for conspiracy against the competition when XM and Sirius had no competition prior to their merger. Still, a shareholder plows ahead with his campaign against the merged entity, despite a global crisis.
In recent days, analysts have speculated on various ways that US satellite radio provider Sirius XM can complete the funding of its merger and stay afloat, including issuing more stock and even possibly taking the company private. While all of that remains in the realm of speculation, a Sirius XM shareholder whose name is all too familiar to executives who hail from Sirius, has amended his lawsuit in US District Court in California, in an effort to stop what he describes as a conspiracy to monopolize the satellite radio industry by eliminating existing competition and erecting barriers to new competition.

That process, claims shareholder Michael Hartleib, has already eroded the value of the company to major shareholders, and threatens to do further damage.
"On or about June 29,2008...Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. acquired XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. in a stock swap. Prior to closing, the merger was described as a 'merger of equals' by management," claims the amended complaint filed last Tuesday. "However, as a result of the merger, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. took on approximately $620 million in debt from XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. The individual Board of Directors...and officers of Sirius...refinanced the debt on such bad terms that the merger severely damaged the value of Sirius." Hartleib's original suit was filed last July 14.
Whether the terms of the refinancing are actually bad may yet be borne out by history, but one thing we do know now is that the fact that any refinancing took place at all is somewhat miraculous. In an analysts' conference last September, CEO Mel Karmazin admitted he learned about debt maturities for XM that he wasn't aware of until very late in the deal-making process. Karmazin knew about $300 million in Sirius debt that would mature in February 2009, but in addition, XM had some $350 million in bank debt that would come due the following May, and another 400 million in so-called 441 converts for XM due the next December.
Karmazin said at the time he and his team were able to quickly find ways to cut $425 million in costs by combining operations with XM -- cutting deeper than originally anticipated. But financing deals, the nature of which the CEO himself seemed to wrinkle his nose at, would get his newly merged company over the hump, he announced at the time.

But that was September 9, just days prior to the onset of what many are calling the greatest financial crisis to strike America since the Great Depression. There are fewer sources of credit today for any corporation than there were just two months ago. So now, Sirius XM is faced with the possibility of having to supplement what financing it can still get through other means. Those other means could, at least in the short term, further dilute stock value -- and that's part of what angers Hartleib.
"In pursuing a plan to merge rather than provide interoperable radios, the Individual Sirius Defendants violated their fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and good faith," reads Hartleib's amended complaint. "The...Defendants had no consideration in sight immediately before the merger -- there was no value to be obtained for Sirius through the merger. In the circumstances immediately before the merger, the transaction was not worthwhile and was not made in a good faith effort to advance the corporate interests of Sirius. Instead the plan to merge and evade the interoperable mandate intentionally and recklessly put the interests of a criminal enterprise ahead of the interest of Sirius."
Elsewhere, the suit reiterates Hartleib's earlier arguments that Sirius and XM conspired to make it appear that the two companies could produce interoperable radios, when they actually never had any intention of doing so. Instead, he claims, the technique was some kind of smokescreen tactic to evade a Justice Dept. investigation, and to thwart any effort by the Federal Communications Commission to enforce its statutes against predatory practices among colluding broadcasters. Hartleib and former Sirius radio supplier US Electronics jointly sued the FCC after it issued its consent to the merger.
But the Court of Appeals for DC threw out Hartleib's FCC suit just days before he filed his amended lawsuit against Sirius XM, on the grounds that neither he nor US Electronics had proper standing to have filed it in the first place. Neither party could adequately prove to the Appeals Court that it was directly adversely affected by the merger, or by Sirius' or XM's activities leading up to the merger.
In a statement to BetaNews last night, Sirius XM spokesperson Patrick Reilly commented about last week's amended suit: "This is the latest in a string of court filings by this Plaintiff, all of which have been dismissed. We consider the latest filing baseless and will challenge it vigorously."
Conceivably, Sirius XM could issue more stock in itself, a move which, for a company in better shape, may dilute its current share value -- which would anger Hartleib. In a strange case of the double-edged sword cutting neither way, the company's shares -- which are trading today at an all-time low of $0.30 -- may not be able to be diluted much more. Analysts speculate that the company could make up for the low trading value by issuing a reverse stock split (what should be called a "stock join"), as much as 1-to-30. But the normal pressure from NASDAQ to resolve the problem of trading for less than a buck per share or face delisting, has been suspended for now, as that exchange resolved two weeks ago to avoid issuing delisting notices in the wake of the financial crisis.

[Demian]

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12519_7-10081088-49.html

November 4, 2008 10:29 AM PST
The latest portable satellite radios--Ask the Editors
Posted by Jasmine France

All the political madness must be getting to my brain, because I apparently think MP3 Mailbox Monday is better suited to Tuesday this week. Luckily, the date doesn't affect the usefulness of the information herein. Namely, what's the deal with satellite radio lately? XM and Sirius officially merged this year, but things have been decidedly quiet other than that, with few exciting new product announcements. For subscribers, there's been some confusion over whether to upgrade equipment now or hold out for a possible combination of the signals or new gadgets that can receive both services. Some answers to that below.

The Stiletto 2 is holding strong.
(Credit: Sirius)
Q: While searching for what is "new" for Sirius radios, I ran across your Aug 15, 2007 article on the Stiletto 2, and thought you would be a person in-the-know. I recently found out that my S50 radio will not handle the best-of-XM service being offered by Sirius. I guess that will teach me not to be the first in line to buy semiportable satellite radios. Sirius is being very helpful in working with me to get a new radio (unfortunately they are not going to do it for free), and they are pushing the Stiletto 2.
My thought is that with Christmas coming, I am sure there is something new on the horizon. However, I can not find any rumors or articles discussing what they plan to do next. I would assume a portable radio that would handle both XM and Sirius signals, but I do not know how far down the road that is. Have you heard of what is coming next with Sirius portable radios? Should I go with the Stiletto 2, or wait?--Jesse, via e-mail

A: Although Sirius is offering the Best of XM access that you described, at this point, I haven't heard anything about Sirius XM combining the signals for the two services. Currently, the companies use two different compression and access systems, so the individual receivers are only compatible with the one service they are advertised for. However, Sirius XM has stated that any currently sold receivers will work with any service going forward, whether it is combined or separate.

The only new portable satellite radio I've gotten wind of is the Pioneer XMP3, which I recently received for review (stay tuned). I'm fairly certain the Stilletto 2 is the most current portable radio for Sirius. I've had a heck of a time getting my hands on that one for some reason, but I think it's a pretty safe bet. My guess is that the company might be devising a way for a singular device to receive both signals, but it might be a while before we see the units hit the market.

[Demian]

Toby Keith endorses satellite radio.........

http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/2008...his-new-album/

"I don’t listen to current radio. I listen to old-school stuff on satellite radio most of the time.”

[Demian]

Yippeeee!

SIRI closed green @ .315 - SIRI closed up a whole half a cent!

The DOW was only up 305 points!

[Newman]

Here are my predictions for earnings that I posted in response to Tylers OEM article:

I too have been anticipating a turnaround in car sales, but I predict that it will be a little later, perhaps in February or March when they start to pick back up.

I would also anticipate Sirius XM renegotiating their deals to increase penetration dramatically over the next year.

And I will call it here first:
Sirius XM Q3 numbers will look horrible due to a TON of one time charges, but the churn will remain stable, and you will hear some surprising numbers regarding subscriber numbers (their estimate of 19.5 million by YE of 08 will nearly be reached already, if not surpassed), information about refinancing (or paying off) of the March debt, as well as very positive numbers regarding Best Of. All of this will lead to a pop in stock price.

Remember, I called it first.