Before you go and update your XM Weather subscription, you might want to keep on eye on the techie news today concerning Sirius/XM and their possibly bankruptcy filing.

According to Bloomberg News, Liberty Media Corp. may announce sometime today whether or not they will provide Sirius XM Radio, Inc. the hundreds of millions of dollars they need to avoid a bankruptcy filing.

Sirius XM faces a deadline today to repay $175 million in bonds held by Charles Ergen’s EchoStar Corp., a satellite- equipment company. Either Ergen or Malone, who control the two largest U.S. satellite-television companies, would be able to use New York-based Sirius XM to integrate TV and radio services.

Under the deal being negotiated, Malone may pay Sirius XM $265 million in return for board seats and a minority stake in the company, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the talks. Malone may then pay another $200 million to Sirius XM later this year, the newspaper said.

I’m not really all that worried about their radio services (although I do enjoy listening to it), but I am worried about what would happen to XM Weather since I have come to depend on it almost as much as my right thumb. XM Weather provides satellite based weather data, including Level III (NIDS) radar data for mariners, avaitors and well – storm chasers.

Neither company made great business decisions before the merger, so I’m not sure why anyone would have expected anything other than the normal after the merger. Just an example, Sirius Radio got locked into a five-year, $500 million contract with Howard Stern. In less than a few years of that contract they are on their knees begging for less than half of that amount just to continue their business.

If the company does loose their satellites, let’s just hope that satellite weather continues under the new management! And as far as Stern is concerned, he might be writing a big letter of apology to the FCC fairly soon. I guess we’ll find out either way within the next day.

Tags: news, technology