Sirius-XM Rumblings

[alexan11]

I caught this on saveopieandanthony message board, thought it might be of interest here:

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 10:52 am Post subject: Sirius and XM are both raising money

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know if this means anything, but last week Sirius raised $175mm in bonds, and is looking to raise about the same in equity this week.

XM filed to raise $125mm on June 3rd.

Perhaps they are looking to pay ONA and have an advertising blitz......

But it could just be a coincidence.

[robification]

after doing much thinking about it, any satelite deal with o&a would probably be PART OF a return... this would mean instant nation-wide syndication!

[YOUR MOMS BOX]

there was an artical in Newsday early this week about XM and Sirrius. Its said sateliite radio is moving at a satelilite TV pace is goig to be a contendor within a couple of years.

also sirrius who had already met with the boys are worikeng on a walkman sized portable sateliiite radio.

[robification]

sirius is also working on a mini boom box along with a home unit.... mandatory for the survival of the company... i just wish another brond other than audiovox would produce it! the only good brand(from what i remember) producing anything for sirius is kenwood.... strictly car audio.... pioneer and sony are all XM only

[TurboDan]

I wish Clarion would make something too... In my car (Saab 9-3) you can just plug any Clarion device into an outlet in the trunk and control it from the regular audio screen.

How do these car satellite things work anyway? Do I have to rip out my current stereo?

[Ollie Obvious]

Originally posted by robification
after doing much thinking about it, any satelite deal with o&a would probably be PART OF a return... this would mean instant nation-wide syndication!

My thoughts exactly Rob...

Satelite would definately be a part in their return. I rememer opie yelling that wnew was allowing them the advertise on during their show when they were still on, saying, "Oh yeah, real smart, Let's advertise our competetion that has better technology then us....Brilliant!!!!"

O & A would be exactly what a satelite company may need to succeed.... satelite is a great concept and the selection and sound is incredible.

The only real complaint I hear from people who don't have it is why would I pay for something i get for free? The same complaint I used to hear my parents make when Cable TV first came out.

[alexan11]

I don't care what medium they come back on, satellite would be good because it could reach all over the world, all i care about is that it doesn't take another 400 days!!!!!!! I hope this worst case scenario Opie has alluded to is just that - worst case. What is the best case scenario??????

[stubadub]

i would love to get the boys back...but 1 thing that concernes me is that on radio...they g\had to use a lot if innuendios to get their points across..which was half the fun..ie leather cherio...with them having free reign...i hope it will be as edgy

[norton23]

Originally posted by ThaBrkrs349
I wish Clarion would make something too... In my car (Saab 9-3) you can just plug any Clarion device into an outlet in the trunk and control it from the regular audio screen.

How do these car satellite things work anyway? Do I have to rip out my current stereo?

No sir, if you have any tape deck at all in your car all you need is the car kit, OR just buy the xm or siuius ready cd player, there really fucking nice and the sound and variety is almost too much, you will enjoy radio again trust me!

And yea about the money issue think of it this way; somebody else mentioned this as well, when cable t.v. came out people didn't understand the concept and thought "what's the point?" Could you live without cable today? When I moved into my new appt are cable hadn't been set up yet, however there was the plug for "basic cable" and I couldn't stand it. That's what's going to happen to radio, it's gonna be tougher but with the proper advertising and promotions it will suceed. They should really start (and I believe they are now) putting sattelite radio in new cars to be sold.

One other thing, i got me an xm unit, but it seem's that sirius is the one everybody's talking about, but somebody said that sirius doesn't have the boom box yet? I think i'm gonna make the switch to sirius.

[J_Oats]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think satelite is totally no-holds barred. I think it is probably a lot like HBO. During the daytime you rarely see bad stuff on HBO, I'd assume it is similar on XM. The only difference would probably be the end of comletely retarded censorship, like "piss", or "masturbate" and related stupid things that used to be cut.

[pooter]

Originally posted by stubadub
i would love to get the boys back...but 1 thing that concernes me is that on radio...they g\had to use a lot if innuendios to get their points across..which was half the fun..ie leather cherio...with them having free reign...i hope it will be as edgy


I agree, although the restrictions were overly tight, it WAS funny as hell to hear them have to come up with code words for half the stuff they talk about, or to listen to them panic after some dumbass starts cursing on the air. It might be boring if they have free reign over what they can say.

For comedy's sake, I'd rather the restrictions were loosened to what they can say on, say, Comedy Central (I swear I heard someone say "cocktease" the other night.)

[pooter]

Originally posted by pooter
I agree, although the restrictions were overly tight, it WAS funny as hell to hear them have to come up with code words for half the stuff they talk about, or to listen to them panic after some dumbass starts cursing on the air. It might be boring if they have free reign over what they can say.

For comedy's sake, I'd rather the restrictions were loosened to what they can say on, say, Comedy Central (I swear I heard someone say "cocktease" the other night.)


Also, off topic: Oats sigpic reminded me of something. If anyone has Caddyshack, go to the 4th of July dance scene and watch Chuck dancing in the background, its hilarious. :)

[RandomNY]

XM already has the boom box. It's called SKYFI and they are introducing XMPC. I haven't checked out what exactly it is it. I have been a subscriber for over a year now and I love XM.


Siruis only has around 60,000 subscribers where XM has over 500,000 and they hit that mark faster than they told WALL STREET they would hit it.

Siruis has Kenwood

XM has GM, Alpine, Sony, and Pioneer backing it.


I still say the best thing for the boys to do is get back on FM and they get the show syndicated through both SAT systems so they can cover all bases.



shows like O'Reilly and Hannity and Rush have their shows piped through XM.

[scottsna]

I was the one who posted the original info on the other board.

I briefly looked at the prospectus for each of the offerings and found something interesting. On 5/20/03 the "use of proceeds" was listed as:

We will receive net proceeds from the sale of the notes of approximately $168,875,000 ($194,206,250 if the underwriters exercise their option in full). We intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of the notes for general corporate purposes, including the marketing of our satellite radio service.

Now, the ammendment from 6/3/03 reads as:

We will receive net proceeds from the offering of approximately $165 million ($190 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full). We intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of our common stock in this offering for general corporate purposes, including the marketing of our satellite radio service, accelerating the distribution of SIRIUS radios in the retail aftermarket and through automakers, and enhancing our service through the addition of live programming and other entertainment content.

Note the addition of the "addition of live programming" point. I would have assumed that they already had live show, but perhaps this is live syndication......

Just thought it was interesting that the ammendment had that change in it. Maybe something has happened, probably not.

As an aside, I would rather the boys be on "normal" radio, the censorship stuff showed them at their best.

[alexan11]

That IS interesting and suggestive. Sirius is getting ready to put some serious cash into their programming. You throw in the fact that the boys actually sat down with Sirius, Opie walking away with a unit in hand, and there definitely seems to be something in the works, something brewing that we don't know about, maybe more developed and further along than any of us know. I wouldn't be surprised if Sirius already put a bid down on them. ALSO, another tidbit - everybody close to O & A expresses "certainty" that they will return. No "ifs." They are absolutely positive. Sure they may be placating us. . . but then they may not. I bet there are numerous channels waiting to pounce - and I bet you anything that the boys haven't spent the last 8 months in a complete undirected up-in-the-air haze about their own future. I'd go so far as to say that they are considering several offers at this point - all top secret due to contractual/legal obligations.

[scottsna]

I found something else that is intersting (I am very bored as you can guess) in the Viacom 10K. For those that don't know, all publically traded companies are required to report all material information periodically. The 10K is the yearly report.

Under litigation, nothing about ONA is listed. Bur unnder risk factors there is this little tidbit about the FCC:

License Assignments and Renewals. The Communications Act requires prior FCC approval for the assignment of a license or transfer of control of an FCC licensee. The FCC is authorized to renew broadcast licenses for terms of up to eight years. The Communications Act requires renewal of a broadcast license if the FCC finds that the station has served the public interest, convenience and necessity; there have been no serious violations of either the Communications Act or the FCC's rules and regulations by the licensee; and there have been no other serious violations that taken together constitute a pattern of abuse.

I would think they would have to state something if the FCC had informed them of an investigation. To me, it means that they have either settled or are playing dumb. A few months ago I would have said they were playing dumb, but with CEO's getting sentenced to 7 years in jail maybe not. In an ideal world if they were at risk to losing the WNEW license, they would have to report it....