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By Todd Shields and Alex Sherman - Fri May 04 22:07:08 GMT 2012

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission dismissed an application by John Malones Liberty Media Corp. (LMCA) for permission to control Sirius (SIRI) XM Radio Inc.

The request made March 20 fueled speculation Malone wants to increase his stake in Sirius, the largest U.S. satellite radio company, and spin it off. The application isnt acceptable because Liberty Media couldnt get passwords and other information from Sirius, the agency said today in a letter distributed by e-mail.

The request to the FCC displayed tension between Sirius Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin and Liberty, its biggest shareholder, that escalated after Malone, Libertys chairman, saved Sirius from bankruptcy in 2009 with a $530 million loan. Liberty owns preferred stock convertible into about 40 percent of New York-based Siriuss common shares.

After this filing, Liberty probably has to pursue other ways to get what they want, which means buying shares, Amy Yong, an analyst at Macquarie Securities in New York, said in an interview. She called the FCCs rejection positive for Sirius because Liberty buying more shares may drive up their value.

Control of Siriuss licenses to use public airwaves may help Malone gain leverage for favorable terms if he seeks to end the alliance with Karmazin, James Ratcliffe, a New York-based analyst with Barclays Capital Inc., said in an April 3 note.

Sirius fell 2.3 percent to $2.16 at 4 p.m. today on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Liberty, based in Englewood, Colorado, didnt establish that it intends to convert stock or install a board majority, the FCC said in its letter. The document was signed by Roderick Porter, deputy chief of the FCCs international bureau, and Julius Knapp, chief engineer of the office of engineering and technology.

Heather Oshiro-Lipp, a Liberty spokeswoman, didnt immediately respond to a telephone call and Patrick Reilly, a Sirius spokesman, didnt immediately return a call and e-mail.

To contact the reporters on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net or Alex Sherman in New York at asherman6@bloomberg.net

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Liberty FCC Request to Control Sirius XM Radio Rejected

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The FCC has dismissed a request made March 20 by Liberty Media to temporarily control Sirius XM Radio.

Liberty, controlled by John Malone, had sought jurisdiction over the satellite radio company despite owning only enough convertible stock to translate into about 40 percent of the company's common shares. LIberty, though, has also loaned Sirius $530 million.

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Analysts said the application itself suggests that Malone and Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin have serious disagreements about the direction the company. Some have speculated that Malone wants to fold it into Liberty then spin it off separately again.

The FCC's decision means that Liberty could begin buying shares of Sirius, which would drive the stock price higher, or it could reapply after addressing some of the FCC's issues. Or, less likely, it could give up the gambit to control Sirius entirely.

"We find Liberty Media's applications to be unacceptable for filing because they are defective with respect to execution and other matters of a formal character," the FCC wrote. "Specifically Liberty Media was unable to obtain the passwords, signatures and other necessary information from Sirius to properly file an electronic transfer of control application."

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FCC Rejects Liberty Media's Request to Control Sirius XM Radio

CHARLOTTE, N.C. This week is all about control for Tiger Woods.

Control the message. Control the medium. Control the media. Control the misses.

Despite an opening 71 Thursday at Quail Hollow that left him six shots off the pace set by Webb Simpson, Stewart Cink and Ryan Moore, Woods never lost sight of the process.

He began the week unlike ever before when he opted to use social media to field questions from fans instead of a pre-tournament interview with the media. The Tiger camp assured us it wasnt a knock on us typing types, rather a way to directly connect with fans.

In truth, it was Woods way to control the message, the medium and the media.

After three weeks off from competitive play, Woods was hoping to control the fourth m as well, but opened his round with a miss.

I bogeyed the first hole, so there goes that idea, Woods said. You try and build, try and find a rhythm in the round.

His miss at the first was easily made up for when he birdied the second.

From there, Woods took his regulator role from earlier in the week and applied it to his execution and etiquette on the course.

It was a lackluster 18 compared to that of Woods playing partner Simpson, whose round included a chip-in eagle at the eighth and a 62-foot putt for birdie at the 12th. Woods round included three bogeys and four birdies. It was neither electrifying nor erratic. Woods never lost his composure nor found his rhythm.

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Woods keeps things under control in Round 1

Score one for Mel Karmazin, the chief executive of Sirius XM Radio Inc.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday dismissed Liberty Media Corp.'s request for the operating licenses that would have given the company control over SiriusXM.

Liberty's request, made in March, argued that because it had 40% of SiriusXM's shares, along with five out of 13 seats on the company's board, Liberty effectively controlled SiriusXM, a New York-based satellite radio service with 22.3 million paying subscribers. Sirius strenuously protested with the FCC, and Karmazin in a recent call with investors mocked Liberty's argument as "40 is the new 50."

The FCC, in a letter to Liberty's lawyers, rejected the application. Here's the relevant rationale:

We find Liberty Medias applications to be unacceptable for filing because they are defective with respect to execution and other matters of a formal character. Specifically, Liberty Media was unable to obtain the passwords, signatures, and other necessary information from Sirius to properly file an electronic transfer of control application. Furthermore, we concludethat a waiver of basic filing requirements is not warranted, as the facts disclosed in the referenced applications are not sufficient to establish that Liberty Media intends to take actions, such as conversion of preferred to common stock and installation of a board majority, that would constitute exercise of de facto or de jure control.

Translation: In order to get its hands on SiriusXM's operating licenses, Liberty Media would have to get the passwords and approval of executives and board members who run SiriusXM.Eddy Hartenstein, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, is a non-executive chairman of the SiriusXM board.

Calls to SiriusXM and Liberty Media were not immediately returned.

John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, isn't one to give up easily, however. The FCC option was simplythe least expensive path to gaining control of SiriusXM.

Liberty now has other, albeit costlier, options including accumulating enough shares of SiriusXM to boost its stake above 50%and staging a boardroom coup bycalling a meeting of Sirius stockholders and putting the matter to a vote. But doing so could trigger a big tax bill for Liberty Media if the transaction is deemed to be an acquisition.

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FCC dismisses Liberty Media request for control of SiriusXM

The convergence Review has suggested that ownership laws be replaced. Photo: Steve Christo

MEDIA cross-ownership laws in Australia would be scrapped and replaced with ''minimum number of owners'' and ''national public interest'' tests, under proposals put to the federal government yesterday.

The long-awaited Convergence Review, chaired by former local IBM boss Glen Boreham, recommended the abolition of laws that carved up the media landscape into the categories of television, radio stations and print.

The old structure should no longer apply as traditional media players move online and content is delivered in new ways, the review argues. Instead, it says: ''Ownership of local media should continue to be regulated through a 'a minimum number of owners' rule.''

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The review said a new government-funded cross-media regulator should decide the minimum number of owners and use as a starting point the current ''4/5 rule'', which calls for the existence of at least five separate media groups in a metropolitan radio licence area, and four in regional areas. The new watchdog should apply a general diversity test to prevent ''a concentration of services in the hands of a small number of operators''. But the changes would not require any forced sales by existing players, applying only to future changes, it says.

In addition to diversity tests, a ''public interest test'' should also apply to any changes in control. Such a test should consider whether the merger, sale or takeover of a media company would reduce either the number of owners in Australia or the range of content.

And the public interest should consider ''whether the person taking control would represent a significant risk that the content service enterprise would not comply with its obligations''.

But the review failed to provide enough detail on how the test would apply, critics warned, and would open the way for government interference. ''News Limited opposes the recommended so-called 'public interest' test in relation to media ownership,'' said chief executive Kim Williams said. ''This test is unnecessary, given the extensive pro-competition powers of the ACCC. It is exceedingly vague and imprecise, will increase business uncertainty and will be subject to political interference.''

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull agreed, saying the test ''would in effect mean the politicisation of decisions involving changes of control''.

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Overhaul old media laws: review