SiriusXM Radio should team up for more ventures with Live Nation Entertainment, said Gregory Maffei, who is chairman of both companies and also CEO of Liberty Media, a large shareholder in both.
“Using Live Nation to differentiate Sirius and using Sirius to promote Live Nation is very logical, and I think there’s more dialog on that but I remain somewhat disappointed that more things haven’t happened there,” Maffei said Monday.
“Sirius has an enormous funnel of high-value customers…you would think that they would be larger ticket buyers that potentially Live Nation could tap,” Maffei said. “I’d say, honestly, we haven’t done as well together on that. That’s probably my fault.”
Maffei was speaking at the Deutsche Bank 2015 Media, Internet & Telecom Conference in Florida, where he also bashed the FCC’s desire to reclassify the Internet as a public service under Title II of the Telecommunications act. The FCC and President Barack Obama maintain the action is necessary to ensure all data on the Internet is treated equally.
“Look, it seems like you used a nuclear weapon to get rid of a potential fly,” Maffei said Monday. “If your fear was net neutrality and people favoring content in some unfair manner, you used massive weapons — including potentially the ability to do price regulation…. We’ll see what holds up in the courts…. I suspect a lot of it will actually be affirmed.”
He added: “This is going to take a lot of years to play out.”
Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com
