Latest in Sirius XM Satellite Radio

NEW YORK—July 30, 2013 – Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced today it will be the exclusive home to legendary radio personality Art Bell, marking the return of the trailblazing late night host to radio with a new, expanded live, nightly call-in show on which he will explore the paranormal, unexplained and more…

The satellite radio company CEO didn’t say that directly in a conference call with analysts this morning. But he sure left that impression after he was asked about the effort by Liberty Media Chairman John Malone — Sirius XM‘s biggest shareholder with about 46% of the voting stock — to take control. It’s been widely…

Do you believe that Liberty CEO Greg Maffei doesn’t know whether he’ll keep Sirius XM or spin it off if his takeover attempt works? Me neither. But that’s his story and he sticks to it in his interview this morning with CNBC’s David Faber. Maffei adds that he wants to keep Mel Karmazin as the satellite radio company’s…

The discussions, disclosed in a Sirius XM filing today at the SEC, suggest that CEO Mel Karmazin is concerned about Liberty’s renewed effort to control a majority of Sirius’ board seats. There’s no agreement yet, and Sirius XM says in its filing that it does not “expect to disclose developments with respect to these…

In an SEC filing this morning, John Malone’s company says that it will convert enough of its preferred shares in the satellite radio provider into common shares to give it 32% of the total votes. Then “as soon as practicable” it will nominate and campaign for a slate of directors that would constitute a majority of…

UPDATED, 9:55 AM WRITETHRU: CEO Greg Maffei says the battle for Sirius XM isn’t over yet. Liberty, which is controlled by John Malone, just agreed to a forward purchase contract it plans to exercise early in Q3 enabling it to raise its stake in the satellite radio company to about 45.2% from 40%. Maffei says the…

The regulatory agency sided with Sirius XM which said that while John Malone’s Liberty might control the satellite radio company one day, it doesn’t do so yet. The proof: Liberty’s application to claim Sirius XM’s broadcast licenses was unacceptable because it was “unable to obtain the passwords, signatures, and other…

The satellite radio company’s shares are up 11.4% since early Thursday while other NASDAQ stocks collectively are down 4.4%. What’s going on? Well, it seems that many analysts who attended Liberty Media’s annual dog-and-pony show for them on Thursday came away convinced that Sirius XM is preparing to see John Malone…

UPDATE, 6:05 AM: CEO Mel Karmazin says he’s not worried that Sirius XM will lose subs beginning in January when the monthly price will rise to $14.49 from $12.95. “We thought about raising the prices more,” he says. The company monitors consumer comments on social networks, and “we’ve seen them say they understand…

That’s the explosive claim that the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Federation of Musicians are making today based on the satellite radio company’s efforts to cut deals with independent record labels giving them 100% of the royalty payments. Such an arrangement would break with the…

Sirius XM shares are up about 6% mid-day after the company said that a January price hike will help next year’s revenues grow 10% to about $3.3B while its free cash flow will rise 75% to about $700M. CEO Mel Karmazin is salivating over the satellite radio company’s first price increase in a decade, to $14.49 a month…

UPDATE, 6 AM: Sorry, analysts didn’t ask about Howard Stern — and Sirius XM doesn’t allow reporters to participate in its quarterly calls with The Street. So Mel Karmazin stuck with the themes that have served him reasonably well over the years: Promises of cost cuts and lots of love for Wall Street. He crowed that…