Free Republic

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Sirius Satellite Radio is not ruling out a price increase for its basic subscription service in light of its arch rival's fee hike announced earlier this week, CEO Mel Karmazin told analysts Wednesday. Karmazin, who spoke at a Bear Stearns media conference in Florida, said XM Satellite Radio's announcement Monday that it would raise in early April its basic monthly subscription fee by 30 percent, to $12.95 a month, "opens up all kinds of options" for Sirius. Until now, Sirius (Research), while smaller than XM with just more than 1 million subscribers, has been the more...

Howard Stern says the end of his career is closer than the two years left on his contract. "I know that it's over for me," Stern said Wednesday morning. "I have been really good at predicting my career and I know when I'm outmatched. It's over for me as a broadcaster. I'm checkmated. All they gotta do is fine us and then we're gone. And there's nothing we can do about it."But even with comments like that, Stern is not going down without a fight. For the past two days the syndicated morning man has been attacking those he feels are his oppressors - Clear Channel, the...

Let the bidding begin for CNN!Commentary: Who can turn around the Can Not Network? By Jon Friedman, CBS.MarketWatch.comLast Update: 12:03 AM ET Feb. 21, 2003NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - CNN has got to be the only television network that creates more news than it breaks.On Feb. 18, Jamie Kellner, the top executive of Turner Broadcasting, of which CNN is a part, resigned, paving the way for former CNN leader Phil Kent to return to power. On Feb. 13, CNN and ABC News broke off their much-discussed merger negotiations. On Feb. 1, news anchor Aaron Brown sparked a firestorm when he didn't...

Three years ago, when it appeared that nothing could get worse at Disney -- fleeing executives, share-price collapse (and this was during the boom), dismal results at ABC, and a CEO involved in a bitter, costly, and very public lawsuit with a former subordinate -- I wrote that "Michael Eisner's extraordinary reign" at Disney was "coming to an end." Two weeks ago, some media bigs I know were out for a little retreat at Herb Allen's place in Sun Valley and, over drinks, put together a friendly pool about whether Michael would last the year. When I dismissed Eisner, I...