Malone takes shot at Karmazin in WSJ

SATELLITE THROW-DOWN: In an interview with the Wall Street Journal at the annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley on Thursday, Liberty Media’s John Malone said he’s more concerned about evolving technologies than SiriusXM chief Mel Karmazin appears to be. "I'm a very long-term investor, despite my age," said Malone, who’s 71. "So I tend to be looking out 10 or 20 years, whereas I think Mel in all honesty right now has got a pretty short-term focus... From our side, we would probably put a little more money into technology [and] be a little more concerned about the future. As we contract audio programming long term, we would probably be pushing and talking a lot more about the next generation or two of service, including how do we enhance our Internet delivery of Sirius, as well as the next generation in the auto… You can't lock up music in a meaningful way but you can lock up this other stuff. And you can also innovate stuff and create stuff." Liberty gave Sirius a lifeline in early 2009 with several hundred million dollars in loans and in exchange got preferred shares equivalent to a 40% stake in the company, which has since increased to more than 46%. Since then, Karmazin has guided the company to prosperity from the brink of collapse: Sirius is expected to generate about $700 million in cash this year. (7/13a)