XM says no interest in Imus, new high-cost acts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc XMSR.O is not interested in signing shock jock Don Imus nor will it seek more high-priced talent when it gets approval for its merger with rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (SIRI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

"Imus appears to have found a home that he's happy with, and he's back on the air, so I don't see any value from our standpoint," XM Satellite Chairman Gary Parsons told the Reuters Media Summit in New York on Monday. "I don't see any interest in that at this time."

Imus signed with ABC Radio Networks, owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corp (CDL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) after being fired by CBS Radio more than six months ago due to an uproar over an on-air racial slur.

XM Satellite and Sirius hope to get regulatory approval for their proposed merger by the end of the year.

Parsons said the combined companies should have a broad appeal with channels for shock jock Howard Stern, celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart, as well as sports, music and talk programming.

"We're not actually looking to add much of any new high-priced content to the platforms," Parsons said. "We have what we consider to be a very high-quality set of offerings that cost us an adequate amount."

(Click here to see Reuters MediaFile blog)

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Franklin Paul and Michele Gershberg; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)