Orbitcast Radio: Lee Abrams; Mel's pissed; and Kevin Martin's in trouble
Friday, March 14, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Tags: Kevin Martin, Lee Abrams, Mel Karmazin, Orbitcast Radio
OK, so it's been a couple week's since the last Orbitcast Radio show - I needed to take a bit of a break. But the dry spell ends tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT with a brand spankin' new episode of Orbitcast Radio.
We'll talk about various things including Lee Abrams' departure from XM, Mel Karmazin taking the gloves off and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin getting in hot water with Congress (and what does this mean for the merger?).
Listen in live tonight, simply by clicking here.
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Well, hopefully tonight you get to the point. If we've found your broadcast, the odds are very good that we know what's going on. Spending a half-hour to rehash comment was totally lame last time.
It's a good conversation, but start digging into the conversation without assuming we're in the darK!
Posted by: Mat | March 14, 2008 12:25 PM
I vote for the logic that Lee left cause the merger is a done deal, and unlike the esoteric & dreamy XM ( for which I have no respect after Parsons and Panero killed it ) Sirius isn't about pretty or "feel good" but operates a business to make money.
Lee costs more than he brought in...time to pack the bags me thinks.
Still a nice man and good guy.
Posted by: Plowboy | March 14, 2008 11:50 PM
Sirius's music channels are crap , compared to XM .
Posted by: Anonymous Coward | March 15, 2008 12:12 AM
Sirius' music channels are 100X better than XM - and no commercials. Buy SIRI.
Posted by: Frank Patterson | March 15, 2008 2:20 PM
XM's music channels are 1000X better than Siri's - and no commercials on the XM programmed channels. Buy XM, you'll be glad you did.
Posted by: XM Listener | March 15, 2008 3:29 PM
Plowboy writes: Sirius isn't about pretty or "feel good" but operates a business to make money."
Really? Is it? Based on what metric do you come to that conclusion?
Nothing in the balance sheet or statement of cash flows indicates to me that they are in this business to make money. If they are, then they certainly aren't managing to that goal. Let's assume that this was your money they were managing - would you really allow them to continue managing it after the results they've been posting?
Before anyone goes crazy and accuses me of being anti-Sirius and pro-XM, I'm not. Both management teams have absolutely squandered every opportunity they've been given and will likely squander every opportunity they'll be given in the future.
People need to be fired - no severance, no buy-out, no rewards for abysmal performance. Senior management needs simply to be fired for incompetence.
Posted by: Anonymous Coward | March 16, 2008 10:56 AM
The economy is unraveling folks. The days of cheap energy are behind us. Sat rad will lose subs because people will find it more important to buy food & fuel than entertainment. I doubt either company will remain "solvent" much longer... by "solvent" I mean going deeper into debt every day. Even merged, sadly this medium's days are numbered.
Posted by: ShastaTodd | March 16, 2008 11:35 AM
Lee cost more than he brought in? SDARS exist because of him. He's worth more to the industry than your precious Howie. And if by running like a business you mean poor, shallow play lists, crappy hardware and Mel selling advertising all over the place, then I guess you're right. Except they are losing hundreds of millions and now want the government to bail them out. Some business.
Posted by: pfreak | March 17, 2008 10:44 AM
I just wanted to say that this weekend's show was your best yet Ryan.
You're definitely getting more comfortable behind a microphone. Great work.
Posted by: xoxo | March 17, 2008 11:23 AM