Karmazin Touts Sirius To Auto Conference

SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO CEO MEL KARMAZIN told the MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONFERENCE that the company continues to be on track to hit the 6 million subscriber mark as well as free-cash-flow positive by the end of 2006.

KARMAZIN touted positive metrics for consumer satisfaction and car listening and the company's market share growth (noting that SIRIUS is "over 60% right now" in retail market share for the first two months of 2006).

KARMAZIN emphasized that the company thinks in traditional radio terms in its focus on strong content for morning and afternoon drive time, and reemphasized that the service's music channels will remain commercial-free, saying that the company's research shows noncommercial music channels are a major reason given by consumers for buying satellite radio. He also reiterated the company's commitment to delivering live video to cars.

...they ought to take music off everyplace else in radio.

Responding to a question about music licensing, KARMAZIN said that "we have done great things for the music industry.... what we've said to (the music companies)... if they really would like to get a big increase in what they're getting, what they should do for us, is they ought to take music off everyplace else in radio." KARMAZIN said that if the music industry would give SIRIUS exclusivity, he could pay them more, but otherwise, increasing the percentage of revenue going to music companies is "a difficult sell." Nevertheless, KARMAZIN said that SIRIUS has "a great relationship" with the major labels and noted that the music industry cannot withhold music from the service.

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