Satellite : More Details Emerge on Liberty Entertainment Moves

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It appears that Liberty Media will attempt to complete plans for its Liberty Entertainment unit before the end of spring.

Late last week, Liberty Media's board authorized a plan to distribute to holders of the Liberty Entertainment tracking stock shares of a subsidiary that will hold a majority of the businesses, assets and liabilities currently attributed to the Entertainment unit, such as Liberty's controlling stake in DIRECTV. The remaining Entertainment tracking stock would hold Starz Entertainment.

In a conference call with analysts Wednesday, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei revealed a few new details for the progressing transaction. According to Wall Street folks, the additional items include the following:

More cash will be allocated to the Liberty/Starz tracker than the Liberty/DIRECTV asset based stock. Also, options to enhance the Liberty/DIRECTV stock interest coverage - if needed - include raising additional debt or selling DIRECTV shares.

The proposed transaction will likely take four to six months to complete. Next steps in the Liberty moves include obtaining a letter from the IRS on the tax status of the transaction, the filing of a Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement and a shareholder vote.