Sirius preps restructure plan

Officials state March as completion date

By DAVID BLOOM

Sirius Satellite Radio warned Monday in an SEC filing that it would use a "prepackaged" bankruptcy filing to force a restructuring of its finances if a recapitalization plan announced last October didn't come through as planned.

The original recapitalization plan was expected to be completed by year-end, but remains unfinished.

Sirius officials said over the weekend they now expect it to be completed by March.

But just in case, the company filed a plan with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it said would accomplish roughly the same restructuring if the original deal isn't completed by June.

Sirius is one of two companies using satellites to deliver dozens of channels of digital music, talk, sports and news.

Both Sirius and XM have spent more than $1 billion launching their services over the past two years, and both have sought to rejigger their finances in recent months as they continue to try to attract enough subscribers to make money.

Both have targeted the car, recreational vehicle, long-haul trucking and marine markets, though both are branching out with add-ons such as premium adult-oriented channels or video services.