Liberty CEO Confident of SiriusXM, Stern Deal

Greg Maffei, CEO of John Malone's Liberty Media, said at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York on Tuesday that he sees the content business more challenged right now than the distribution business and predicted more consolidation in media in the next couple of years, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Greg Maffei

Sports and skinny pay-TV bundles have strengthened the hand of TV distributors in their relationships with content companies as of late, Maffei signaled. He also argued that there is currently more doubt about the business model of TV networks. But he emphasized recent Malone comments that it was surprising how much entertainment stocks have been affected by investor worries, given that advertising and carriage revenue won't collapse overnight. "The market overreacted" to cord-cutting fears, said the CEO.

Asked if Liberty would be open to leveraging a $1.1 billion legal judgment against Vivendi for a stake in Universal Music Group, Maffei said he wasn't sure Vivendi was interested in that. But he did say, "Sure, depends on the price." The exec said that "a tighter partnership" with Universal Music would help both sides as the music company could benefit from Live Nation Entertainment and SiriusXM, in which Liberty owns stakes.

Asked about key growth businesses that are part of Liberty, Maffei said: "I’m very excited about what Charter’s opportunity is." He also touted the continued growth of satellite radio firm SiriusXM.

"I’m confident that we will end up having a relationship with Howard [Stern]", Maffei also told the UBS conference. Sirius executives have also been hopeful that Stern and the company will end up extending their long-running relationship. Stern's current contract ends this year.

Liberty recently announced it would pursue a reclassification of its common stock into three new tracking stock groups. One will be designated as the Liberty Braves Group, which will include Liberty's Braves Holdings that indirectly owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team and certain related assets and liabilities; the second will be called the Liberty Media Group; and the third will be the Liberty Sirius Group, focused on the stake in satellite radio giant SiriusXM.

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