A recent article in the New York Post isn't very forgiving of the Sirius-XM merger, dramatically (in classic Post-style) highlighting Mel Karmazin's salary and how it would be taken into account when considering the merger.

"Details of Mel's pay package couldn't have come at a worse time for Sirius and XM," said Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett.

"Their credibility is already stretched pretty thin on Capitol Hill after weeks of anti-trust grilling. This will add fuel to the argument that their merger attempt is a way to enrich management rather than listeners."

At least, that's fuel to the fire that the NAB would love to feed. The reality is that Karmazin's compensation was likely put into place in his original contract back in 2004 when he signed on to Sirius. But who needs reality when you've got drama? Check out this ridiculous quote from an NAB spokesman:

"This outlandish pay package confirms that the proposed monopoly Sirius-XM merger was crafted mainly to enrich the companies' CEOs and their close friends on Wall Street," said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton. "The notion that consumers or small shareholders would benefit from a government-sanctioned monopoly is pure fiction."

Apples... meet Oranges.

The unfortunate thing is that regardless of how little this should affect the decision by the FCC and DOJ - Peter Lauria at the NY Post is absolutely correct... the negative attention this stirs up certainly doesn't help.

[New York Post]

As of May 1st, Sirius and PodShow will reportedly be parting ways. A relationship that was started two-years ago with much fanfair, is now over... and I'm not so sure that many Sirius listeners will care.

It was a neat idea at the time - to take a social media like podcasting and stream it over satellite radio. But I have to agree with Podcast NYC in that there probably is no winner or loser in this case. It was low-cost programming for Sirius, and great PR for PodShow, but it likely didn't bring in mass subscribers for Sirius. Aside from new subs, I'm also not convinced that the show garnered many listeners aside from those who are already into podcasting (and who already have favorite podcasts they follow). Four-hours is a lot of time to dedicate to a channel with redundant content.

Frank Truth posted an email from Richard Brewer-Hay of PodShow, stating that the deal "has become less productive for both parties." Which I think puts it nicely - the value just wasn't there for both parties. That's it.

It's hardly the case of satellite radio becoming even less important... which I think is a hilarious take on the issue. I'm a huge fan of both the podcasting medium and the satellite radio medium, but the notion that this will cause satellite radio's "numbers further flushing down the toilet" due the dropping of podcasting content is a slight delusion of grandeur.

If you're going to look at the marriage of social media and new media, I think shows like Blog Radio are far more popular. But that's just me... will any of you be missing the podcasts on Sirius?

[via paidContent] 

Starting on Monday, April 30th, "Morning Living" on Martha Stewart Living Radio (ch 112) on Sirius has named a new host, and expanded its format to 3 hours.

Recently named host of "Morning Living" and veteran radio personality, Dean Olsher, is actually the first male morning show host on Martha Stewart Living Radio. Olsher roots are from NPR – he started there in 1987 as a cultural reporter and then launched "The Next Big Thing" at WNYC in 1999.

Olsher, a lifelong foodie, brings kitchen karma to life every morning. Freestyle conversation, humor and personality drive his show. Olsher, his show regular - Betsy Karetnick - and a wide-ranging mix of guests do much more than trade recipes and make coffee (thankfully).

As a fun touch, they actually cook breakfast and other treats in the studio, never afraid to experiment with morning food. In fact, after one too many breakfasts consisting of eggs, Olsher has issued a plea to his audience to call and send in creative alternative ideas.

Like "Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer" (the evening drive time show), "Morning Living" is an open forum for everything plus the kitchen sink.  Listeners to both shows are privy to up close and personal radio unique to Martha's channel.

Expect the unexpected. This is not your mother’s morning radio show.

"Morning Living" will air Monday – Friday from 7am - 10am ET on Sirius' Martha Stewart Living Radio (ch 112).

Two-time champion NASCAR champion Tony Stewart went off on NASCAR officials on his Sirius show, likening the sport to wrestling.

Stewart dominated Saturday night's race, but eventually lost to Jeff Gordon. Stewart said he was avoid ing bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.

"It's like playing God," he said on his Sirius program, which airs from 6-8 pm ET, on NASCAR Radio (ch 128). "They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It's happened too many times this year.

"I guess NASCAR thinks, 'Hey, wrestling worked, and it was, for the most part staged, so I guess it's going to work in racing too.' I can't understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they're stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.

"I don't know that they've run a fair race all year."

Listen to the audio (MP3) of Tony Stewart criticizing NASCAR.
 
NASCAR called Stewart's comments "very, very disappointing."

[Los Angeles Times]

Three separate analyst's reports this week have cast serious doubt on whether the Sirius-XM merger will be approved by federal regulators.

Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby put the probability of approval of the merger at about 35 percent, but noted that it was likely much lower. Meanwhile, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co senior analyst Craig Moffett, and William Kidd, media analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, put the chance of approval closer to 10 percent. 

Jacoby also lowered the merger synergy assumptions from $5 billion to $3.6 billion, stating that sports rights fees could increase initially.

"The merger faces a very tough road at the FCC, where the public interest test applied by the commission is inherently subjective," Moffett said. "In Washington, 'subjective' is codeword for 'political.' "

"The fact that there are different pricing schemes means you can effectively bake in price hikes," Kidd said.

"Regulators can see that's a problem."

[Washington Post] 

NPD Group's March sales data for satellite radio retail sales demand has risen slightly again consecutively since December. But don't get too excited because retail sales are still down in the annual comparison.

Year-over-year retail sales fell 28% in March (up from the 33% drop in February, 44% drop in January and a whoppin' 46% drop in December). We're slowing crawling out of the "Stern Effect" comparison bubble, so this is going to continue to get easier from this point forward.

The Quick Glance:

• Sirius March 2007 Retail Sales:
  Down 31% YoY
• XM March 2007 Retail Sales:
  Down 23% YoY

For the full quarter:

• Sirius 1Q07 Retail Sales: -40% YoY
• XM 1Q07 Retail Sales: -29% YoY
  

Marketshare:

• Sirius Mar '07 Retail Marketshare: 53%
• XM Mar '07 Retail Marketshare: 47%

XM is finally making a bit of a comeback in retail, gaining 3 percentage points against Sirius, and climbing up from a 35% YoY decline last month (though Sirius still beats XM in retail marketshare). Sirius also continues to show a bit of a comeback from a 33% drop last month, and the dismal earlier months.

Still, a decline is a decline, so don't go popping the champaign just yet guys.

I think it's time to get more creative with retail. Father's Day is looming and we need to see some new products, as well as some more aggressive marketing efforts. Mergers are distracting, (that's a fact) but if you want Wall Street to stop pummeling you... well, you need to show growth. Simple right? (Well, no not really, but we've got some ideas.)

Sirius will be airing a performance by Tori Amos on the night of the release of her 9th album, American Doll Posse, live on The Spectrum (ch 18).

After her performance, Tori will give an in-depth interview with The Spectrum channel host, Demos.

Tori Amos’ “American Doll Posse” LIVE! will be broadcast from the New York club, Spotlight Live, next Tuesday, May 1st at 8pm ET.

Replays will air on May 2nd at 12-noon, May 4th at 11pm ET, May 5th at 8am ET, and May 7th at 12:01am ET.

American Doll Posse will be released on the same day as the performance, and it's Amos’ ninth studio album. It features Tori unveiling five characters (Tori, Pip, Clyce, Isabel and Santa... all making up the American Doll Posse) who each deliver their own unique songs, conveying different aspects of Tori and women in general.

Tori chose to debut her last studio album, The Beekeeper, on Sirius and it was her fifth album to debut in the Top 10.

That's the question being posed by SeekingAlpha contributor M&A Researcher, as the FCC still has not started its review "clock" just yet.

They point out that there has been an unusually long delay from application filing to clock start, but given the magnitude and publicity surrounding the Sirius-XM merger, maybe it's not all that surprising.

No new filings have been posted to the FCC's transaction page in the last seven days. It could be an indication that the staff is preparing to launch the review clock shortly, or maybe that the volume of filings coming in is so large that the staff simply is unable to keep up.

Either way, another batch of ex parte filings can be expected to appear shortly, as can the beginning of the 180-day informal review period. Tick-tock.

[SeekingAlpha] 

Sirius Satellite Radio paid its CEO Mel Karmazin $1.25 million in salary, plus a bonus of $3 million, as well as $16,937 in retirement plan contributions and profit sharing, according to a recent regulatory filing. His total compensation is valued at $4.3 million in 2006.

Karmazin was awarded the $3,000,000 cash bonus in February of this year in recognition of his performance, as well as based on meeting various other corporate goals. Note that the base salaries of Mel Karmazin (as well as Scott Greenstein and David Frear) were not changed in 2006.

It was also disclosed in the filing that Mel received stock awards of $2.83 million and options valued at $24.1 million... bringing the total tally up to $31.2 million last year.

[Business Week & LA Times] 

Mercedes-Benz and Sirius Satellite Radio have extended their relationship to include Sirius in over 80 percent of vehicles for 2007, and plans to grow the install rate to more than 90 percent over the next 2 years.

Sirius will also now be standard equipment on two additional models this year: the S-Class and CLS. Sirius is standard equipment right now in the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class and CL-Class, as well as all AMG and 600 model vehicles.

Sirius' factory install rate for Mercedes-Benz vehicles will grow to 90 percent for 2008, and continue to over 90 percent by 2009. The original installation rate was estimated at 50 percent - set less than two years ago.

All Mercedes-Benz vehicles with Sirius installed include 6-months of free service.