Mel Karmazin gets his merger!

By SDH After a year of pleading and convincing, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin gets the green light to merge his company with rival XM creating a new monster satellite radio broadcaster that will go un-challenged for some time to come. Karmazin has argued from the start that a merger between the only two satellite radio providers would benefit subscribers. However it was a hard sell. Now comes the whole re-branding and merging of operations and a shit load of layoffs. The party just started.

Did Mel Karmazin deal Sirius to hell ?

BY SDH It is said that you always go back to where you began. For Mel Karmazin he began in radio and now he’s back in radio, the only difference is that this time it's satellite. He may be back on familiar turfs but over the years his new gig has proven difficult and sometimes extremely expensive in an effort to keep some form of relevancy. Over a year ago it was announced that the Karmazin lead Sirius was merging with its rival XM to create a satellite radio giant that would go un-challenged. This very fact sparked concerns at the FCC and to this day the merger has not been approved. Poor Mel was on Capital Hill more than many of our senators pleading his case trying to convince them that a Sirius XM join up would work and benefit subscribers. But trying to get his merger green lighted was only part of Mel's headaches. Since he took over as CEO, he has spent big to land some of the biggest talent hoping that their shows would cover costs and more. But were such deals smart for a business mostaly dependant on revenue generated by subscriptions? For Howard Stern alone, Mel dropped $500 Million and hundreds of millions more doing deals with the NFL, NBA and NASCAR to name a few. Mel Karmazin spent a shit load of money but by doing so has put Sirius in a serious position. Even though he insists that if a merger with XM doesn't happen Sirius can survive, many believe he needs the merger with XM to help share the heavy load he has amassed since being named CEO. We shouldn’t be surprised at all if XM decided to pay a fee to get out of the merger agreement, leaving poor Mel out in the cold. Was Karmazin too eager to make his mark and spent too much in the process? This reminds me of Jean-Marie Messier, the one time CEO of Vivendi Universal. He went on a massive shopping spree buying everything in site in his effort to build a massive media company only to sink the company deep into the red which lead to his ouster. Is Mel Karmazin heading down the same road, will his merger ever be green lighted, is XM radio secretly playing against him doing things to make sure a merge doesn’t happen? Sumner Redstone is probably happy he fired him, saying to himself that “Mel would have probably lead Viacom down the same road, spending big and tying up the company in what appears to be a doomed merger” Related: Satellite radio in limbo as merger stalls

XM Satellite Radio expects, growth and declines, has no interest in nappy headed hoeist Don Imus

-YOSH With a merger with rival Sirius all but done (allegedly) XM Satellite Radio in the meantime expects some good and not so good things. The company said it expects retail subscriber growth to resume in the fourth quarter, but declines may occur again in the first or second quarter of 2008. Yeah we know we get confused sometimes too, but basically what it means is that, like every other business, shit is really unpredictable. We're sure Sirius boss Mel Karmazin who is expected to run the combined companies is watching XM's numbers very closely. XM, which lost a net 17,000 retail customers in the third quarter, now relies almost entirely on car buyers for growth, and Parsons said auto-related sales will be strong even if the most pessimistic car sales projections for this year come true. "From our standpoint, we see a pretty solid projectable growth trajectory coming from the new car marketplace. Clearly, we want them to be successful, and we will do better in a boom time than in a depressed time ...," Parsons told the Reuters Media Summit in New York. XM expects Q4 retail subscriber growth [Reuters] Related: XM says no interest in Imus, new high-cost acts

Will Mel Karmazin ever get his "I Did It" cover?

Sirius Satellite boss Mel Karmazin may have to go back on his "Why Sirius & XM should merge" tour because someone at the FCC wasn't sold on the idea. However Mel isn't the only one who has to convince this someone at the FCC. It looks like Sam Zell may have to do some convincing regarding his Tribune Co take over as well. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, one of two Democrats on the five-member commission, said it would be a "steep climb" for him to cast a favorable vote on either deal because he has serious concerns about consolidation in the U.S. media. "Somebody's going to have to make a pretty powerful and potent demonstration that it serves the public interest," Copps said, referring to the XM-Sirius deal. FCC official voices doubts on Tribune and Sirius deals [Reuters]

What better way to sell a merger than taking home a huge paycheck

Talk about bad timing. Sirius Radio CEO Mel Karmazin may have just put up yet another brick wall he has to try and break through regarding his dreamy Sirius, XM merger. But he shouldn't have any trouble breaking through it at all because he can use that heavy $31 million pay package he just got. Merger critics are no doubt planning a field day. With CEO compensation becoming a hotly debated flash point among institutional shareholders, Karmazin's pay, disclosed in a proxy filing last Monday, even if deserved is certain to catch the attention of regulators. "Details of Mel's pay package couldn't have come at a worse time for Sirius and XM," said Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett. MERGER CRITICS KEY ON KARMAZIN'S $31M PAY [NYP]

Killing Melvin Karmazin

-SHOMARI HINES After spilling his guts and making all kinds of promises to the government, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin may still see his merger plans with XM shot to hell by the same group who shot the merger plans of satellite TV providers Echostar and Direct TV dead. The group seems to have a thing against space based services joining forces. So how, if at all will Mel talk his way out of this? He may have to turn his super sales man hat backwards and get pushy with em. The Carmel Group, the influential research firm whose analysis helped kill the 2003 merger of EchoStar and DirecTV, will release a new report today that outlines the strongest arguments yet against merging satellite radio companies Sirius and XM, The Post has learned.Sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters, which has already come out against the deal, the 11-page independent white paper includes a point-by-point rebuttal to the six main arguments put forth by Sirius and XM in favor of a merger. CARMEL GROUP THROWS WRENCH INTO SIRIUS/XM MERGER [NYP]

Video Wire: Trust us. You can't trust Mel Karmazin

-Neil Yoshida Pleading his case last week on the hill, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin attempts to convince the government that they can trust him. Hell we can't trust our Government and they can't trust each other, see where we're going with this?

This is the Businessweek cover Mel Karmazin is working hard towards

-Shomari Hines So we have yet to get our Jeff Zucker Businessweek cover. However we still have hope for a Jeff Bewkes cover even though that probably won't happen until he takes over at Time Warner. But another cover we're hoping to see is the one to your right. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin is a radio man at heart and he has been working to win some love from law makers to get his mega merger with XM blessed. If and when Mel gets his go ahead, this cover mock up should do us all just fine, because it just says it all. Last week, Mr. Karmazin took his campaign to win over lawmakers and regulators to Washington with his pitch that a single satellite radio company would mean more choice and lower prices for consumers — rather than create a foreboding monopoly, as his former chums in the terrestrial radio business contend. Speaking before an antitrust task force of the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Karmazin said he was shocked by the very idea that anyone would see a monopoly as the logical result of merging the only two satellite radio broadcasters. “There is no monopoly or duopoly,” he told the hearing. “That’s the most bizarre thing I have ever heard.” The Karmazin Way: Build It, Sell It, Run It, Repeat [NYT]

Mel Karmazin to law makers: Monopoly? What monopoly?

-Shomari Hines Mel Karmazin put on his super salesman suit and jetted to Washington yesterday to sell, sell, sell his vision of a merged Sirius and XM. But according to reports, he may have to try a little harder to get this merger moving. By the time the two-hour, 20-minute congressional hearing into the proposed $13 billion Sirius-XM merger ended late Wednesday afternoon, Mel Karmazin was getting a little hot under the collar trying to drive home the message to legislators that the company left standing after his Sirius and Gary Parson’s XM come together will not be a monopoly. He said it many ways and many times including at least once where some frustration finally began to show, “We are absolutely not a monopoly,” the CEO strained. Karmazin, About XM/Sirius Merger: `We Are Absolutely Not A Monopoly' [Mediaweek]

But how sweet does he like his lemonade

Is Mel Karmazin hoping for Oprah to fail in the satellite radio show business? Apparently her failure would be news to his ears as he gears up to face regulators who are already hating on his proposed merger with rival XM. The queen of all media caused barely a ripple last fall when XM Satellite Radio announced she would get her own channel, "Oprah and Friends." On Wednesday, Sirius CEO Karmazin will trudge up to a Capitol Hill hearing to try and convince lawmakers his proposed merger with rival XM isn't anti-competitive. He could trot out the failure of Winfrey, Martha Stewart, and even Nascar to spark a new-subscriber wave as evidence the universe of audio entertainment extends well beyond the country's two ailing satellite radio businesses. Already, Karmazin, in starting to frame his argument, has said that satellite radio's real battle isn't Sirius versus XM, but Sirius and XM versus basic television, cable, iPods and every other media device on the planet. Actually, we think Sirius and XM's real battle will be against the mighty, mighty internet. OPRAH'S LEMONS MAY MAKE MEL'S LEMONADE [NYP]

Your kid is the reason for this entire merger shit

And all this time we thought it was due to the demands of greedy shareholders looking to cash in on top of the heap they already have. We thought when Mel Karmazin finally got XM to agree to work towards a merger it was because of his own doing and dream. Apparently we have been wrong all along. Your teen daughter - with her iPod and MySpace page - is responsible for the multibillion-dollar Sirius-XM and Warner Music Group-EMI merger attempts. That's because behind both proposed couplings is the rise of digital music - particularly on peer-to-peer services where usage is heaviest among 13- to 18-year-olds - and the threat it poses to their survival. Consider, for example, that within two years roughly 40 percent of all new automobiles - satellite radio's bread-and-butter subscriber base - will come equipped with audio jacks for iPods and other MP3 players. So shouldn't these teens be present when these companies go up to plead their case? YOUTHS' DIGITAL HABITS FORCE SATELLITE RADIO, MUSIC MERGERS [NYP]

Can Mel Karmazin's buzz words sway the FCC?

The New York post, raised an interesting point this morning regarding the planned Sirius XM merger. The paper said Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin wouldn't have announced the deal if he wasn't confident while touching back on his track record as a deal maker. It's true that we can't think of a failed Karmazin deal off the top of our heads, unless you count his resignation from Viacom when he realized he wasn't getting the CEO gig. Both Karmazin and XM Chairman Gary Parsons continually referred to the "exploding alternatives for audio entertainment services" in announcing their deal, a clear appeal to the Department of Justice to broaden the marketplace definition to include terrestrial radio, online radio and iPods. And it should come as no surprise that Karmazin was tossing off phrases like, "We want to be the poster child for consumer friendliness," in discussing the merger, nor should the fact that the release announcing the deal specifically noted that consumers could pick channels on an "a la carte basis." TALKS UP FCC HEAD [NYP]

Sirius, XM to walk down the isle

Sirius boss Mel Karmazin will finally get his wish now that his company will merge with XM. However not only will there be a massive redundancy ,but a public war will break out between Karmazin who will be CEO and Gary Parsons who will be chairman of the combined company. We predict without a doubt, that Parsons will be pushed out, our leave a few months to a year after a merger happens if it does. we say this because we heard Karmazin rides dirty sometimes. But wait didn't the FCC put the kibosh on this? XM and Sirius said they would combine to create a company with an enterprise value of $13 billion, including $1.6 billion in net debt.Under the terms of the deal, XM stockholders will get 4.6 shares in Sirius. Sirius Radio to merge with XM [Reuters] Official Press Release: SIRIUS and XM to Combine in $13 Billion Merger of Equals

FCC puts the kibosh on Mel Karmazin's comeback

Mel Karmazin probably would love to kick the crap out of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for putting up a road block that could well..........block any chance of a merger between Karmazin's Sirius and XM. This was probably Karmazin's way of coming back in a big way being that when he left Viacom, he landed at the much smaller Sirius as CEO. The XM side however publicly denied any talks about a merger and even said a merger wouldn't happen. But we all know money talks and bullshit walks and a deal would have happened this year. Hey you never know, Mel does have some tricks up his sleeve. Message to Wall Street warriors excited about the prospects of a merger between Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio: Stuff a sock in it. It ain’t gonna happen. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin didn’t use those exact words Wednesday morning (Jan. 17) when he chatted with reporters after the commission’s monthly open meeting, but he made it clear that FCC regulations created when the satellite radio service was conceived more than a decade ago clearly state that “two satellite radio operators [must] remain in place,” Martin said. Its only a matter of time until until Kevin Martin starts to tell Howard Stern what to say. Who is this guy? FCC Nixes Prospect of Sirius-XM Merger [Meediaweek]

2007's First Mega Merger of Sorts?

IS it because of the New Year that chatter is picking up steam again, indirectly speaking to the CEO's of America's two satellite radio companies to merge? Shareholders and/or Sirius's Mel Karmazin should have the balls to just speak what's on their minds instead of planting stories in the media. The benefits of a merger have been promoted by the chief executive of Sirius, Mel Karmazin, for a number of months, and Sirius officials continue to say that a merger would be a good thing. XM has not commented on the possibility, and neither company has said whether they have actually discussed the issue. “When you have two companies in the same industry, we have a similar cost structure. Clearly, a merger makes sense from an investor’s point of view to reduce costs, and to have a better return,” said David Frear, the chief financial officer for Sirius. For what its worth, a merger does seem to make sense at this point. But will we see both Sirius and XM come to the table on this? Wait a minute, if XM's stock is trading at 3 times that of Sirius, doesn't that mean that any merger would see the XM side having more juice? They also have more subscribers too. We can only imagine the job cuts if such a deal were to take place due to the shit load of redundancies it would create.

Weekend Wire: The round up

And now the weekend's worthy media news: The proper footwear may come in handy this week for Seventeen magazine underlings Atoosa Rubenstein's last day was Wednesday. So what exactly will Seventeen magazine staffers walk into on Monday morning, and do they have the shoes for it? Wall Street Journal teaser The Wall Street Journal published their "50 Women to watch" list carried on the front page of Yahoo! However you must be a paid subscriber for full access to the list. Guess its their way of trying to attract new business. They figured potential prospects would want the complete list so bad they would sign up for the paper. NOPE! not us at least. The Karmazination of a satellite merger We heard it before but are the rumors closer to reality this time around. Former Viacom prexy and current Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin is sparking the Sirius XM merger rumor mil again. "both stocks went up. So I guess investors think [a merger] could be interesting." Grandpa Sumner losing the game Is Sumner Redstone secretly taking an ass whipping in the video game business? In what should be a golden time for every company in the industry, Midway stock plummeted to $8.53 a share on Friday from a five-year high of $23.16 last December. Redstone and entities controlled by his family hold 88 percent of the outstanding shares.

Mediawire Daily's Best & Worst Dressed Media Moguls...sort of

Today's media mogul should be a man orwoman of a certain style. However some don't even know what the word style means. The there are some who at least try to look the dapper part. We look at some of todays well known media execs. Their style and share with you what we think. Some are good and some are bad...we mean really bad. We give respect to those who pull it together well and shame those who just don't have a clue. As the public face of a company one would think some effort would be put into one's appearance...and some do and to them we say Looking Good. Continue>>> 1-Rupert Murdoch: Believe it or not Rupe has some style to him and we think its all via his wife Wendy who herself is a fashion plate. Rupe is always seen in well tailored expensive suits which hilites his billionaire status. We love seeing him tuxed out at the Vanity Fair parties and move premiers. So out of all the other best dressed moguls we will mention Rupe comes out on top. 2- Richard Parsons: Yes Mr. Parsons comes in second behind Rupe because well…. For a man his size it takes a lot to look that good in clothes. Mr. Parsons' well tailored suits just scream power. 3- Peter Chernin: Rupert's number two is unfortunately are number 3 on our list but still in the top five. Mr. Chernin with is ever present glasses and sharp suits landed him here. His corporate casual is also worth talking about. At a recent even Mr. Chernin paired a brown suede jacket with a black v-neck sweater, faded blue jeans and black shoes. Nice 4- Bob Iger: Disney boss Robert Iger is what we call, has what we call a school boy safe fashion sense. He is in between, which drops him at number four in the top five. Bob always looks well put together on corporate outings, with his perfectly combed hair and school boy grin. His suits don't look all that expensive but it works. For a casual look Bob does the usual media mogul casual dress. Button down shirt tucked into khakis brown belt and brown shoes. Common but safe. 5: Les Moonves: The ever tanned Les Moonves rounds out our top five with his expensive suits and overly polished shoes. Showing all signs of a serious metro-sexual Les never looks anything less than put together, and it works for him. With his height a power suit is in need and they always look good on him. Les casual style is also well laid out. At a recent even Les paired khakis with a tucked in polo shirt and brown loafers. We wouldn't have chosen the loafers but you know what….it works for Les. His salt and pepper hair is always well coifed and his smile gets whiter by the day. Being permanently tanned also works in his favor. Now we that we got our top five best dressed media moguls out the way. It is now time to talk about the not so well dressed. Some of them are really bad too. 6- Jeff Bewkes: His tall slim frame gives him a lot of room to experiment with clothes. However Time Warner’s number two has stuck to the same get up since his HBO days. Dark suites & Ties Italian shoes and a smile for good measure. We would like to see Jeff in lighter colored suites, maybe some Jeans and a sports coat and maybe even some shades. Jeff should also try to correct his posture which seems to be slightly hunched 7-Jeff Zucker: Though many of you are probably saying why he is on the list because he doesn't fit into the media mogul category. Say what u want because soon he will. Anyway Jeff has had some hits and misses over the years. However we have to say since taking full control of NBC Universal's television business he kinda stepped it up a notch. And why shouldn't he? What if GE CEO Jeff Immelt calls him in for a quick sit down or just to have lunch or something? Jeff rocks the typical TV exec get up. Not so hot suit with OK ties and well polished shoes. However he needs to take it easy on the layers because of his height. 8-Tom Freston: Even though we were and still are big fans of TomCo, we always wished we could slap him with the style stick sometimes. He has had some hits and misses. Sometimes Tom's attire gives off an I don’t give a fuck vibe. We don't know if this is what he is going for but it doesn't fly sometimes. Tom was known for showing up in black suits and a blue tucked in button shirt no tie slightly sloppy at MTV events. However there were sometimes where he just had this cool to him like last year when he was snapped outside his Manhattan apartment wearing a block leather short cut jacket blue jeans and shoes. This is what we think the casual media mogul should look like. He has plenty of time on his hands to get it together fully now. 9-Mel Karmazin: We don't know. Mel just doesn't do it for us at all. Maybe it's the teeth! 10- Sumner Redstone: Someone please slap this little old man three times with the style stick please. Viacom grand daddy Sumner Redstone has aid on record that buys off the rack suits at a discount. His shoes look clumpy and his clothes just always seem to swallow him up. If his wife Paula has his ear on business issues, why won’t she tell this man to bring in a stylist of something? The again she needs help herself. For these reasons Mr. Redstone is our only worst dressed media mogul on the list.

Morning Wire: The Viacom Curse

Ask past top execs of Viacom like Mel Karmazin and he may tell you that Viacom is cursed. Ask the company’s two Former CEO’s Frank Biondi and the more recent Tom Freston and they will probably echo Mel’s answer. But why? Well, it is no secret that Viacom grand daddy Sumner Redstone is a control freak, and if he feels as though he lost an ounce of control he will pull the trigger on whoever took that ounce. This has been the case with many of his lieutenants over the years. One time CEO Frank Biondi, never saw it coming and was reportedly canned after not rolling Sumner’s way on things. Sumner likes CEO’s he can control, basically running the company via a human filter just in case something goes wrong a fall guy is in place. Former President & COO Mel Karmazin was at war with Sumner the day the CBS Viacom merger was completed. Sumner didn’t like the way the media was playing up Mel as his heir apparent. Sumner would purposely state in interviews that he isn’t going anywhere even echoing Newscorp CEO Rupert Murdoch’s legendary statement when he said he will be rolled out of Newscorp on a stretcher. Continued.... Mel Was frustrated that Sumner refused to layout a succession plan and left the company. Fast-forward to the present day and the latest victim of the Viacom curse is Tom Freston. Not only was Freston canned before hitting the one year mark, he was replaced with long time Redstone yes men. Was it a fair decision to can Freston without giving him a chance? The man was only on the job for 9 months, but Redstone and his greedy shareholders wanted miracles. But maybe just maybe, Redstone’s plan to split the company in two isn’t working for the Viacom side. But of course he would rather roll some heads than admit to that. Will Redstone’s new yes men fall victim to his ruthless CEO killing ways? Or will they act on his every word? We can only caution new CEO Philippe P. Dauman not to get too comfy, in Tom’s old office.

Are rumors of a Dick Parsons Mayoral run fueling Carl Icahn's share shopping spree

Touching back on the newly revived rumors of Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons' possible run for Mayor of NYC in 09, does Carl Icahn know something for sure that the rest of us think we know? Is it pure coincidence that the corporate thug has been snapping up Time Warner shares like bargain hunters at a fleamarket over the past few months? Did Dick Parsons make some kind of secret deal with Icahn and company to step down as CEO before his contract is up? What is fueling these rumors? "Insiders say that it's all but official he(Parsons) will run". So if this is indeed the case, when will Mr. Parson's hand over the CEO reigns to Jeff Bewkes? We figure early 2007 so he can focus on planning his campaign. Of course with such a major shift at any major media company comes even more questions, like what will a Jeff Bewkes lead Time Warner look like? Will he show his true colors by undoing certain decisions Dick Parsons made, showing that he was just team player but not a believer? Who will he elevate as his number two once Parsons is good and gone? Below are 5 candidates we think would be a perfect fit for Jeff Bewkes's number two. Of course two of them could be long shots: Chris Albrecht- Currently Chairman and CEO, Home Box Office and Bewkes' former hand picked choice to take over HBO when he was pulled up. Ann S. Moore- Currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Time Inc. Mel Karmazin- Currently Chairman & CEO of Sirius. However Mel may not be into playing the number two roll again Judy McGrath- Currently Chairwoman and CEO of MTV Networks. Since Tom Freston doesn't see her use above MTV, maybe Jeff Bewkes will. Lachlan Murdoch- Former Deputy COO, Newscorp. The great come back!!! Daddy would surely be pissed and would probably call for an emergency meeting with his lawyers to cut him out of his will.

Media Quicky: Mel Karmazin loved Viacom the way it was

In a recent interview Sirius Satellite Radio CEO and former Viacom Prexy Mel Karmazin said that he wouldn't have split Viacom in two because he was the one who put them together. Deep down we all know why the company was split in two. Like to hear it hear it goes: In an effort to not choose a successor and upset the other, Viacom grand daddy Sumner Redstone decided to split the company so both Les Moonves and Tom Freston can be CEOs. However if your not stupid, Tom Freston is the winner. How you ask? Well the name of the company that included CBS in the fold was Viacom, they split off CBS gave it back to Les and gave Tom the CEO-ship of Viacom.

Morning Wire: Wow! BIG news, just the way we like it

Sirius boss Mel Karmazin is said to have a hard on for rival XM It was only a matter of time until one of them wanted the other and we are shocked that its the smaller party who wants the bigger party. Regarding XM - would we like to buy them? Sure. We'd love to buy them. Price would matter, so that would be an issue ... (and) there would definitely be the regulatory issue," he said. Mike Eisner loves the babies former Disney dictator Mike Eisner has reportedly bought a producer of sports videos for infants and toddlers called Team Baby Entertainments. We feel sorry for the poor bastards who will get a taste of classic Eisner. Univision is bad for it's own health Univision's stock is suffering because the board wants to hold out for more money. Shares of Univision Communications Inc., the No. 1 Spanish language broadcaster in the United States that put itself up for sale earlier this year, fell another 3 percent on Monday amid doubts about the success of its auction.

Mel Karmazin will forever have Janet Jackson's nipple in his mind

Former Viacom number 2 Mel Karmazin is no stranger to conflict. However Mr. Karmazin isn't afraid to take on challenges he and/or his company Sirius faces. He doesn't apologize for the major money deals he's done since becoming CEO of Sirius but he seems to still be traumatized about the whole Janet Jackson nipple thing. Mel sat down with Broadcasting & Cable for a Q&A: Has the government gone too far? Yes. I think the government is causing more harm to America than a view of Janet Jackson's top for two-tenths of a second. Anything you want to say about Janet Jackson? Yes. She should not have done it, and I certainly wish she hadn't done it. It was terribly inappropriate that she did it. Our investigation indicated that nobody from our company [CBS] knew anything about it; we were blindsided. I apologized to Congress, and I apologized to our audience. But that said, the government should not be fining for anything. I've been looking at any studies that may have been done on the youth of America since they were exposed to that two-tenths of a second, and it's hard for me to find any harm that has been caused. I think there'll be a lot of harm caused by this new indecency law, because it is, in fact, going to censor people.These fines are so big that small broadcasters just can't risk paying them, and, therefore, they'll just totally stay away from this type of content. As I understand it, the government isn't saying you can't cover any kind of content, but, if you're going to set fines that are so great, people are just going to shy away from it.I think the industry did a horrible job in using its political capital. In walking the halls of Congress, I know that, when broadcasters want something to happen, they do a pretty good of lobbying. On this subject of decency, I guess people just don't care that much about it. And now there's lip service talking about, yeah, we're going fight it in the courts and things like that. But I don't think there is as great an effort speaking out for free speech as there once was on the part of broadcasters. read...(B&C)

Today in Les: A look back

They always say, in order to know where one is headed, you have to know where they're from, well kinda. We wanted to take a look back at an interview Les Moonves did in 2003 as President of CBS Television when Mel Karmazin was still a pain in Sumner Redstone's wrinkled ass. This was during the time when he faced a shit storm for a planned Ronald Reagan mini series that was supposed to air on CBS. But Les gave in and pulled the plug at the last minute. We also thought we would throw in some famous Les Moonves quotes collected over the years. Below is a snippet of the interview Les did with Richard Zoglin of CNN.com. For the past couple of weeks, CBS television president Les Moonves has been the man in the hot seat. After a conservative outcry, he abruptly canceled a mini-series about Ronald Reagan, only to draw fire from liberals complaining that he caved in to pressure. Moonves talked with TIME's Richard Zoglin about the episode and some of the season's better news. It's frankly hard to believe all the protests didn't influence your decision to cancel the Reagan mini-series. Did they play a role? They didn't. We had promised the public we would do a balanced version of Reagan's life, that it would have warts, that it would show the good and the bad. Upon looking at the rough cut, I felt the movie was somewhat one-sided and it wasn't the movie I promised the public. The easier call would have to been to stick with it and put it on CBS. I felt I couldn't do that, and I made a moral decision not to do it. more.... Read Les Moonves' Quotes

LINK GRAB: How much power does Rupert really want?

Rupert Murdoch's Direct TV is looking up Echostar's skirt [Reuters] We still can't beleive Mel Karmazin has a little pussy in him [Reuters] Life & Style names a new Chief gossiper [Mediaweek] Facebook.com founder Mark Zuckerberg's dick is bigger than the value of his company [Valleywag] Hearst Pubs go mobile, but do we care? [MBP] Jupiter sold to Jupiter. Go figure! [MBP] Need a job? MTV is hiring [DM]

We had no idea Mel Karmazin gets scared

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin says that he its scary paying Howard Stern $500 Million but its worth it. We think its scary paying $4 for coffee so we can only imagine what Mel must have been going through when he signed off on that huge deal for his pal Howard. "It's scary how much they cost, but I would rather have them and find a way to make money with them rather than compete against them," Karmazin said. [Reuters]

New York City based executives seem to be making all the money, especially Sirius's Mel Karmazin

The perks for many NYC execs includes everything but a horse and carriage ride. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin is leader of this pack. Mel Karmazin's riches give him a huge boost on the executive-pay ladder, many other executives in just a mere 12 months also have amassed tens of millions in wealth. [amny]