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Liberty ‘abruptly’ abandoned WorldSpace plans
Chris Forrester ©RapidTVNews | 17-03-2010
WorldSpace, in a filing to the Delaware Bankruptcy Court on March 16, said that Liberty Satellite Radio on March 12 had “abruptly and without explanation terminated its negotiations with [WorldSpace]”.
The filing then said, in effect, ‘What do we do now?’ WorldSpace explained that for the past 6 months, and “at the urging of Liberty” they had been conducting a strategy towards agreeing a strategic sale of the WorldSpace assets to Liberty. “Liberty has not provided [WorldSpace] with any guidance on protecting or disposing of Liberty’s collateral [the orbiting satellites] despite the Debtors’ repeated requests.”
WorldSpace has told the Court that because of its severe financial problems they have no option but to remove their satellites from orbit “immediately” in order not to risk damage to orbiting equipment owned and operated by others.
Liberty put in about $21m or so to either buy up WorldSpace’s debt obligations or to assist in day-to-day running costs for WorldSpace’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Most observers happily predicted a link between Liberty Media and Sirius-XM and using the WorldSpace orbiting satellites to jump-start a ‘Sirius International’ pay-radio service.
Not so. WorldSpace’s press release, issued late on Tuesday afternoon, said: “WorldSpace is awaiting information from Liberty as to its expectations as WorldSpace's secured lender with respect to the handling of Liberty's collateral. In the interim, WorldSpace is planning for a potential de-commissioning of its satellites and reviewing its strategic alternatives in light of the termination of negotiations.”
Only last week Liberty submitted a formal filing to the FCC to take posessesion of the two orbiting satellites, and most observers saw this as another careful step on the road towards WorldSpace’s rehabilitation.
What a mess! We cannot begin to speculate as to what’s gone wrong this time.
© Rapid TV News 2010
