Liberty Media Corp. will invest $530 million in financially struggling satellite radio company Sirius XM Radio Inc., the companies said Tuesday.

The investment on the first business day comes after Sirius warned it could file for bankruptcy as early as Tuesday if it cannot successfully negotiate with its debt holders.

As part of the deal, Liberty will provide a $280 million senior secured loan to Sirius, $250 million of which will be funded on Tuesday. Sirius will use the proceeds of the loan to repay $171.6 million of its maturing 2-and-a-half percent convertible notes that had been due Tuesday. The rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

The loan bears a 15 percent interest rate and matures in December 2012.

The second phase of Liberty's investment provides another loan of $150 million to Sirius's subsidiary XM Satellite Radio. Liberty has also agreed to offer to buy up to $100 million of the loans outstanding under XM Satellite Radio's existing credit facilities from the lenders. [Yahoo News]

In related news, an American satellite collided with a Russian satellite.

..But now Sirius XM, the satellite radio company, has problems with much bigger price tags. It has hired advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing, people involved in the processsaid.

That would, of course, be a grim turn of events for the normally upbeat Mr. Karmazin, Sirius XM's chief executive, who had hoped to create a mobile entertainment juggernaut with stars like Howard Stern.

It is unclear how a bankruptcy would affect customers. Service is unlikely to be interrupted, but the company might have to terminate contracts with high-priced talent like Mr. Stern or Martha Stewart.

A bankruptcy would make Sirius XM one of the largest casualties of the credit squeeze. With over $5 billion in assets, it would be the second-largest Chapter 11 filing so far this year, according to Capital IQ. The filing by Smurfit-Stone, with assets of $7 billion, has been the year's biggest to date... [NY Times]

photos by Jonny Leather

Ponytail is a 4-piece art rock band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, on the label We Are Free. Their sound has been compared to Deerhoof as well as Ecstatic Sunshine, due to the band's experimental guitar work and unique vocal stylings. The band has toured internationally, with bands such as Battles, Hella, Don Caballero, High Places and others. They have released two albums, Kamehameha, and Ice Cream Spiritual. They were named "Best Live Band" by Baltimore City Paper in September 2007 and "Best Band" in September 2008.[Wikipedia]

Nick Masi and I had to put together this feature for our Sirius-XMU show at the end of December (it ran in early January). They asked us to name "Best Live Band of 2008" among other things. It's hard to pick stuff like that, but we finally agreed on Ponytail for that award too. I realize that some people think exactly the opposite.

Ponytail brought it to The Bell House in Brooklyn on Friday night (1/23). Download an ACOUSTIC session they did for Daytrotter (if you haven't already). See more pictures from the Brooklyn show and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Ponytail - Daytrotter acoustic, 2009 European tour dates & pics from the Bell House "

Sirius XM Radio, the pay-radio marriage of the two former satellite services, formally combined their program lineups Wednesday.

Some channels from each service went away in the merger, with Sirius and XM Radio subscribers each getting new channels from the other service. Some channels will be moved and/or re-named.

Sirius XM said there will be no increase in the subscription fee or need to change or upgrade existing radios for the basic service, but that doesn't include the "Best of" packages.

XM subscribers will have to pay extra if they want a "Best of Sirius" package with such premium draws as Howard Stern, Martha Stewart Living, Playboy, NASCAR and the NFL. Sirius subscribers will have to shell out more for a "Best of XM" lineup that includes Oprah Winfrey's Oprah & Friends, the NBA, the NHL the PGA and The Virus, which is home to Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia.

Among the Sirius channels going away are Movin' Easy, Punk, Sirius Disorder, The Strobe, Boombox, Backspin and Universo Latino. XM channels being retired include XM Sports Nation, the Weather Channel, XMX, X-Country, Fungus, Rhyme, Raw, Beyond Jazz, Fine Tuning, The System, Chrome, Viva, Aguila, Caricia. [Chicago Tribune]

In case anyone was wondering, "Blog Radio" survived the cut. Indie/Alternative station Left of Center (Sirius) merged with XMU (XM) to form the new Sirius-XMU, which, although its name is closer to "XMU" is actually more like "Left of Center" (Blog Radio included). The new lineup for Sirius can be found here. The new XM lineup can be found here.

"XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio said Tuesday they have completed their long-pending merger. The combined company plans to use the name Sirius XM Radio Inc. Its stock will continue to be traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SIRI. They first announced their deal in March 2007." [Yahoo News]

....that Sirius 'Blog Radio' may be be coming to an XM radio near you in the very near future.

The decision eliminates what was viewed as the toughest legal hurdle facing the $13 billion deal, which must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. Consumer groups and traditional broadcasters have urged the FCC to impose conditions on the merger. [Washington Post]

BrooklynVegan 'blog radio' airs on Sirius 26 (Left of Center) Wednesdays at noon EST, and then again at midnight that night.