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]

XM Satellite Radio: We don't need a merger, but we would like one

XM Satellite Radio bosses Nate Davis and Gary Parsons in a Q&A with the New York Times said that a merger with Sirius would be great but if it doesn't happen, that would be great as well. As both companies wait for the final word on whether or not they can merge. The boys at XM are all about business as usual. Q. It is said that the darkest part of the night is just before the dawn. Do you ever wake up fearing that this merger will not happen? PARSONS: No, I actually don’t. We have said that we do not need the merger to go forward. Candidly, it’s pedal to the metal from the beginning to the very end. The most extraordinary thing has been the visceral nature with which the N.A.B. jihad has progressed against the merger. The Future for XM, With or Without a Sirius Merger [NYT]

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?

Whose Domain is it anyway?: Hopefully it was Mel Karmazin or Gary Parsons being proactive when these domain names were registered

-Shomari Hines Something tells us, if and when Mel Karmazin's Sirius does get the green light to merge with XM, they may have to shell out a crap load of Money to secure these registered domain names for the new company website? Well that is assuming the domain names were registered by some fast ass wanting to cash in. However If our reckless assumption is indeed correct and Mel and company feel like they don't want to drop green for the rights to the domains, then we came up with some other options they can choose from if and when Sirius and XM does merge. Thisissomesiriusxm.com rusiriusxm.com siriuslyxm.com xmissirius.com xmwithsirius.com We have loads more but you get the point. Oh yeah we have no idea if these domains are even available, we didn't bother to check.

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]

Media analysts and others doing their best over analyzing

According to published reports, analysts are busting their brains in trying to figure out how a combined Sirius and XM will save money? We don't know if we're missing something but isn't that what employees are for? When you merge you purge, so their money saving plan will be to axe a nice chunk of the combined work force cutting out redundancies at the bottom and the top. Ahhh! Just one of many questions all merger announcements spark. Wonder what kind of questions will a Viacom CBS re-merger spark? Left unanswered is what will happen to consumers who have one of the current generation of radios once it's time to blend the companies. "The companies will have to announce a fairly complicated technology-migration plan," says Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett. In addition to the tech hurdles, the companies will have to get the deal to pass muster with antitrust officials and the Federal Communications Commission. How Sirius-XM merger would cut companies' costs still unclear [USA Today]

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