Archive for the ‘Howard Stern’ Category

Blogger Lyndal Harrington Jailed For Failing To Turn In PC As Evidence

Amit Chowdhry | June 2, 2009 | 398 views | Comments
Categorized under , , , , , ,

anna-nicole
[Anna Nicole Smith]

Lyndal Harrington is a blogger that lives in Houston, Texas.  Fifty-three year old grandmother Harrington was put in jail last week because she failed to come up with a legitimate excuse for why she could not turn in a PC as evidence for the lawsuit filed against her.  The court subpoenaed her PC as evidence, but Harrington stated that a thief broke into her house and stole it.  Harrington was ordered to be put in jail for contempt by U.S. District Judge Tony Lindsay.

The lawsuit filed against Harrington was related to a defamation case involving the 1993 Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith, who passed away in February 2007.  Anna Nicole’s mother Virgie Arthur filed a lawsuit against Harrington, Howard Stern, and Larry Birkhead for defamation.  Supposedly Harrington wrote a blog post on Rose Speaks about how Virgie Arthur married her stepbrother and abused Smith as a kid.  Arthur claims that the three individuals conspired against her so that she would not win custody of Smith’s daughter.  Smith’s daughter may inherit $100 million.

The police and Judge Lindsay accused Harrington of staging a theft of her PC.  Harrington was given until July 2nd to produce the computer, but she says “I can’t turn over something I don’t have.”

Harrington said that she did not conspire blog posts with anyone and just voiced her opinion online because her “business had fallen apart in this economy and it was something to do.”

[via ArsTechnica]

Sirius XM In The Midst Of Possible Bankruptcy

Amit Chowdhry | February 11, 2009 | 448 views | Comments
Categorized under , , , ,

The stock for Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) has plummeted to below 2 cents per share.  About a year ago, the company stock was hanging on to about $3.19 per share and dropped rapidly.  Mel Karmazin the current CEO of the combined satellite companies said he was planning on cutting costs for Americans to acess the service for $0.43 per day. “Forty-three cents a day — it’s not even vending machine coffee,”stated Karmazin at the time.

Sirius is now hiring advisers in preparation for a possible bankruptcy according to sources at the NYT.  This is bad news for celebrities who currently depend on Sirius XM to broadcast content such as Eminem’s Shade45 and Howard Stern.  A bankruptcy may cause Sirius XM to cancel contracts with celebrities.

If Sirius goes bankrupt, it would be the second largest Chapter 11 of the year.  The company has $5 billion in assets including the satellite technologies.  That is shortly behind Smurfit-Stone, a company with $7 billion in assets.  Sirius XM has never seen a profit even when both companies were independent of each other.  Now they have $3.25 billion in debt.

The automotive industry taking a hit has a direct correlation with Sirius’ failure.  Many of the new cars on the market are Sirius XM-ready.  If consumers aren’t buying them, they won’t have access to the satellite radio unless buying the peripheral device.

“Sirius XM hired Joseph A. Bondi of Alvarez & Marsal and Mark J. Thompson, a bankruptcy lawyer with Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, to help prepare a Chapter 11 filing,” stated the NYT.  “Documents and analysis are close to completion and a filing could come in days.”

EchoStar, a TV company may end up pushing the takeover Sirius as they already have bought some of the satellite radio company’s debt at $400 million worth.  Once Pulse 2.0 finds out more, we’ll report it in the coming weeks.

For more information, check out the discussion on Techmeme.