Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Cramer Turns Positive On Satellite Radio In Wake Of Merger Announcement
Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Buy Sirius
By TheStreet.com Staff, 2/21/2007 2:53 PM EST
The satellite-radio stocks are a screaming buy, Jim Cramer said Wednesday on CNBC's Stop Trading! segment.
Cramer said he prefers Sirius (SIRI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating), but he believes XM (XMSR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) is also worth owning in the wake of Monday's $4.57 billion merger plan.
Cramer said he expects the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission to hold a "show trial" approving the deal, which Cramer said "would not pass muster" were the Democrats in control.
Cramer said a merger will allow the combined company to raise prices and to stop wasting money by bidding against each other for on-air talent. "I just think it's great," he said...read more:
hereLabels: cramer, siri, xm
2/21/2007 03:57:00 PM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
SSG is not a Financial Advisor. Read Disclosure: HERE
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NY Times: Antitrust Shift May Aid Merger
Many experts agree that the EchoStar-DirecTV deal would have a good chance of being approved in today's environment. There have been alot of changes in the past four years...cable is not their only competitior, there is the internet, and the Telcos. This analogy could be made for satellite radio, for which the consumer has an even broader range of audio choices.Shift on Antitrust Issues May Aid Sirius-XM Deal The New York Times, Feb 21, By
ANDREW ROSS SORKINMel Karmazin, the chief executive of
, made a lot of phone calls seeking advice before he entered into a merger deal with on Monday. Maybe he should have called Charles W. Ergen, the founder and chairman of EchoStar Communications. Mr. Ergen could have given Mr. Karmazin an earful about his failed effort to merge EchoStar with DirecTV four years ago, a deal that seems eerily similar to the one Sirius and XM have proposed. Will the government see things differently this time?
Michael K. Powell, the former chairman of the
Federal Communications Commission who blocked the EchoStar-DirecTV deal, is not so sure. “I do think it could get through, but I don’t think it’s going to be an easy one,” he said. “It’s going to be incumbent on the companies to demonstrate that the analysis in EchoStar-DirecTV is different.”...read more:
hereLabels: merger, new york times, satellite tv, siri, xm
2/21/2007 06:29:00 AM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
SSG is not a Financial Advisor. Read Disclosure: HERE
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
XM+SIRI: S and P Likes The Deal
S&P Upgrades XM Satellite Radio to Hold
Analyst Tuna Amobi notes the company's deal with Sirius. From Standard and Poor's Equity Research
XM Satellite Radio (XMSR): Upgrades to 3 STARS (hold) from 2 STARS (sell), Analyst: Tuna Amobi
As recently speculated, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius (SIRI) agree to a $13 billion merger of the rival satellite radio providers. Each XM share would get 4.6 shares of Sirius, whose CEO Karmazin would lead new entity, with XM Chairman Parsons keeping his title. While the deal is billed as a merger of equals, we see an effective takeover of XM by Sirius. But with this duopoly merger likely perceived by many in Washington as anti-competitive, we see little worse than 50/50 odds of closing by 2007 end, as expected. Still, we raise our target price by $7 to $20 on the fixed exchange ratio.
S and P Places Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. 'CCC' Rtg On Watch Positive>SIRI The following is a press release from Standard & Poor's:
NEW YORK (Standard and Poor's) Feb. 20, 2007--Standard and Poor's Ratings Services
said today it placed all its ratings, including the 'CCC' corporate credit
rating, on New York City-based Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. on CreditWatch with
positive implications, following the company's definitive agreement to an all-
stock "merger of equals" with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (CCC+/Watch
Developing/--). Under the terms of the agreement, Sirius shareholders will own
50% of the combined company and XM shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of
Sirius common stock for each share of XM they own. As of Sept. 30, 2006, the
company had approximately $1.08 billion in outstanding debt.
"If the transaction is completed as proposed, without the incurrence of
additional debt," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Michael Altberg, "we
would likely raise the ratings as a result of the combined company's stronger
business profile and quicker path to positive free cash flow."
Labels: merger, siri, standard and poors, xm
2/20/2007 05:18:00 PM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
SSG is not a Financial Advisor. Read Disclosure: HERE
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Analyst Call Of The Week: Robert Peck Of Bear Stearns
Congratulations, Robert Peck, for your timely "rekindling" of "merger chatter"
Bear Stearns Rekindles XM/Sirius Merger ChatterPosted on Feb 16th, 2007 with stocks: SIRI, XMSR...read more:
hereLabels: bear stearns, merger, siri, xm
2/20/2007 07:26:00 AM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
SSG is not a Financial Advisor. Read Disclosure: HERE
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Saturday, February 17, 2007
Terrestrial Not Happy With Satellite's Public Radio Content
Radio isn't happy about XM Public Radio's latest deal
via
www.orbitcast.comApparently terrestrial radio isn't so happy about American Public Media's
deal with XM Satellite Radio.
While the cornerstone shows "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Marketplace" are still going to be syndicated to terrestrial stations, the perceived problem is that they'll no longer be exclusive to terrestrial. Maybe someone should have told them that Prairie Home and Marketplace were available on Sirius'
NPR Now (ch 134) for a while now...read more:
hereLabels: npr, siri, xm
2/17/2007 07:37:00 AM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
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Friday, February 16, 2007
NAB And FM Modulators: Why Don't They Request Recall For iPods And MP3's?
New autos come equipped with auxilliary input jacks, so this is becoming a moot point. I find it interesting that the NAB focuses on satellite radio and ignore the "bleed" from FM modulators used with iPods and other MP3 players.
NAB Renews Plea for Recall of 'Unlawful' Satellite Radio Devices
2.16.2007
NAB President/CEO David Rehr reiterated his call for the FCC to authorize a recall of satellite radio FM modulated devices that violate Part 15 power limits.
In a letter to Chairman Kevin Martin, Rehr cited a recent report from The New York Times on satellite radio interference with local radio signals. Of particular concern are “FM listeners in their cars and listeners of public and religious programming on noncommercial stations typically located at the lower end of the FM band,” Rehr said in the letter.
Last year, Rehr sent a letter to the heads of XM and Sirius Satellite Radio urging each company to “voluntarily withdraw and replace all noncompliant satellite radio devices in circulation.”...
continuedLabels: fm modulators, ipod, mp3, nab, siri, xm
2/16/2007 07:50:00 AM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
SSG is not a Financial Advisor. Read Disclosure: HERE
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Seeking Alpha: The Importance Of "The Howard"
Life Without Howard? Not For Sirius
Posted on Feb 14th, 2007 with stocks:
SIRIRoger Ehrenberg submits: Sirius (
SIRI) has always been a complicated company with a complicated story. First of all, you've got the blue-sky opportunity of satellite radio, which has lured in many only to see them washed away in a sea of red ink and missed expectations.
Then you've got the deal with
Howard Stern, a mythic figure with the cult status of Steve Jobs and whose importance to the well-being of the Company (and its stock price) is a topic of endless conversation. Next you've got Mel Karmazin, yet another big personality in a small company with an agenda all his own. And finally you've got the technical issues of getting good information on Sirius that is not simply a parroting of mainstream media - because Sirius is not only a
star and it's not only the name of a key character in the Harry Potter series (
Sirius Black), it is an
element of a wide variety of other notable search terms. This is when powerful investment-oriented vertical search tools come in handy...read more:
hereLabels: howard stern, siri
2/14/2007 08:00:00 AM
SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here
SSG is not a Financial Advisor. Read Disclosure: HERE
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