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Slacker’s ABC News Integration Is No Match For Sirius XM’s News Content

Posted 21 Jul 2010 — by Demian Russian
Category Sirius XM (SIRI) News

by Demian Russian

Slacker, the internet radio service provider, added the integration of ABC News (NYSE: DIS) to its service yesterday. While news content is a welcome addition to the Slacker service, there are several drawbacks which highlight why it’s no match for Sirius XM’s (NASDAQ: SIRI) superior news content. Slacker seems to be taking steps to be more like Sirius XM Radio. First they added a couple of comedy channels, and now a news channel, and it’s not free. Did I just hear “subscription model?” Well, it is free for the 14 day trial period, but after that it will run you $4.99 a month ($3.99 a month with a prepaid annual subscription). After the free trial period, users who want access to the ABC News channel must subscribe to Slacker Radio Plus. In addition to the ABC News channel access, Slacker Radio Plus features no banner or audio ads, unlimited song skips, song lyrics, and mobile station caching. Sounds great right? It depends on how you look at it.

I tried out the free trial of Slacker’s ABC News and I discovered several drawbacks compared to the Sirius XM Satellite Radio service. Slacker’s ABC News channel consists of segments from ABC News programs, which means they are prerecorded, which means they are not live, which means you are listening to old news. I like to listen to live news as it’s happening. I know the Slacker ABC News content isn’t live, because the player would allow me to skip to the next segment when I first turned it on. I was not able to determine exactly how old the news was that I was hearing, as no indication of time was offered at any time during the programming I listened to.

Only one news channel is offered with the Slacker service. Besides not being live, Slacker’s ABC News channel only offers snippets of stories — which means you don’t get the whole story. Sirius XM’s subscribers get live access to several different news channels, including CNN, Fox, CNBC, Bloomberg, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, and The World Radio Network. Sirius XM’s news channel offerings include: financial, political, medical, entertainment, human interest, National and International news. You don’t just get the top stories, you get in-depth analysis and opinion of those stories. Read More

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Tags: ABC, ABC News, ABC Radio, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Demian Russian, Disney, Fox, MSNBC, NASDAQ:SIRI, NPR, NYSE: DIS, Pandora, Satellite Radio, Satellite Radio Playground, SIRI, Sirius, Sirius XM, Sirius XM Radio, Slacker, World Radio Network, XM

Sirius XM (SIRI): Citi Sees Liberty Media Likely Boosting Its Stake

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Posted 09 Jul 2010 — by Demian Russian
Category Sirius XM (SIRI) News

By Demian Russian

Citigroup (NYSE: C) analyst Jason Bazinet upgraded Liberty Capital (NASDAQ: LCAPA) today, based on an updated “sum of the parts” valuation, and sees Liberty boosting their stake in Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) likely, but not until 2012. Mr. Bazinet upgraded Liberty Capital to BUY from HOLD and raised his price target from $46.00 to $54.00. Bazinet also reiterated his BUY rating on Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA), but lowered his price target to $15.00 from $18.00. In his report, which was largely focused on Liberty Media Corporation’s (NASDAQ: LCAPA, LCAPB, LINTA, LINTB, LSTZA, LSTZB) stake in Sirius XM, Bazinet lays out several possible scenarios Liberty Media may take in regards to their current stake in Sirius XM.

Liberty Media’s 40% stake in Sirius XM is currently represented in its Liberty Capital LCAPA tracking stock. Last month, Liberty announced a plan to separate its Liberty Starz and Liberty Capital tracking stock groups from its Liberty Interactive tracking stock group. If Liberty’s plan gains approval, Liberty Capital and Liberty Starz would then become apart of an asset-backed company called “Newco.” The newly formed Newco would be represented by two separate tracking stocks, Newco Starz and Newco Capital. Meanwhile, Liberty Interactive (LINTA) would then become asset based. In light of Liberty’s decision to not do a hard spin of LCAPA, LSTZA and LINTA, Bazinet’s analysis focuses on how Liberty may create increased shareholder value over the next couple of years.

What does Bazinet see as the most likely scenarios? He sees Overture Films, which is currently part of Starz Media and represented by Liberty Capital, being shuttered or sold. He then sees the remaining Starz Media assets, in exchange for cash, being re-attributed to Liberty Starz. In order to lessen or remove the tracking stock discount, he expects Newco Starz to “ultimately be spun out as an asset backed security.” Bazinet then sees the newly created Newco Capital either entering into a tax sharing agreement with the newly created Newco Starz, or entering into a RMT (Reverse Morris Trust) transaction with Sirius XM.

A Reverse Morris Trust transaction allows for a parent corporation to spin-off a subsidiary tax free into an unrelated acquisition corporation, but the parent company’s shareholders must retain a controlling interest (over 50% of the value and voting rights) of the newly merged company. Recent Reverse Morris Trust transaction examples include Walt Disney’s (NYSE: DIS) $2.4 billion spin-off of ABC Radio into Citadel Broadcasting Corporation (NYSE: CDL) in 2006 and Verizon Communication’s (NYSE: VZ) $2.7 billion spin-off of its Northern New England wireline operations into FairPoint Communications (OTC: FRCMQ.PK) in 2008. Read More

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