siriusIn a departure from a tradition that has taken place ever since Mel Karmazin took over as CEO, Sirius announced the date of their conference call prior to XM. In the early days of SDARS, Sirius typically announced and had their call prior to XM. When Mel came to Sirius, the policy changed. Now, Sirius is announcing first, and the call will happen on February 26, 2008 at 8:00 AM.

While some may speculate as to why the tradition of conference call cat and mouse games has changed, the answer could be quite simple. If the merger passes prior to XM announcing their call, they may not have to have a call at all. No company will exist to conduct the call about. The entity will still have to file the proper paperwork with the SEC, but can possibly forgo having a conference call because there would no longer be anything to report to shareholders that no longer exist. While the reasoning may differ from what is posted above, it does make sense that the entity being acquired would wait as long as they can before having the call if they feel the potential of merger passage will pre-date the deadline for conducting a call.

The certainties are that Sirius has established their call date. The metrics of the business will be discussed, and if there is no news on the merger, it will also be discussed. In the end it is good to see that the cat and mouse conference call schedule is no longer happening.

Position – Long Sirius, XM