Done Deal

Last week started with firework as news came out that Echostar’s Charlie Ergen was going after Sirius XM. By the end of the week the news was even more interesting as Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin got an idea to go to Echostar’s main rival Liberty Media looking to thwart off the takeover attempt by Echostar.

This idea by Mel shows what a great businessman he is, as this morning it was announced that Sirius XM was able to get a loan from Liberty Media for $530 million.

This move keeps Sirius from filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy and also keeps Sirius alive for shareholders. Sirius’s stock rose rapidly at the opening of stock trading today.

And while Charlie Ergen might have missed out on taking over the company the news of assistance from Liberty Media is not exactly bad news for Echostar, as Charlie get paid for the Sirius Debt he purchased over the last few months. In fact it could be said that Charlie earned his company a nice payday.

From where I sit this is good news for everyone, now I only hope that Sirius XM does what it can to turn satellite radio back into a premium radio service worth paying for again. As I have mentioned in previous editions Sirius XM recently cut back on its programming and greatly scaled back the playlists of many of its stations, turning what was great premium radio into nothing more than standard FM radio without commercials.

It’s NASCAR Season!

Hats off once again to DirecTV as this year they have managed to bring back NASCAR Hotpass to its customers and this year the service is free to their customers.
As you might remember we talked in the past that DirecTV was canceling the subscription package which was the case. And while not as quite as good as last year’s Hotpass this year the free package offers 4 channels of drivers channels complete with uncensored drivers radios. The missing things this year are the dedicated announcers for each drivers channel and the drivers radios for the drivers that were not being featured on the 4 drivers channels.

This weekend Daytona 500 might have been a rainout, but DirecTV NASCAR fan were very happy with what they saw.

Free NHL Center Ice on Dish & DirecTV

Both Dish Network & DirecTV customers can tune in and enjoy a special preview of the NHL Center Ice Package this week. Check your satellite listings for game times!