Sirius Employees Didn’t Get Subpoenas in Probe

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. said Monday that none of its executives or employees had received subpoenas to testify in a Securities and Exchange Commission insider-trading probe.

Sirius has no reason to believe it is involved in an investigation of trading in its shares in the weeks immediately before and after the company acquired Howard Stern’s syndicated radio show, spokesman Patrick Reilly said.

Shares of New York-based Sirius surged 48% from Sept. 1 until Oct. 5, the day before the company said it signed a five-year deal to broadcast Stern beginning in 2006 when his contract with Viacom Inc.’s Infinity Broadcasting Corp. ends.

Sirius later announced that it also was hiring Stern’s old boss, Mel Karmazin, former Viacom president, to run the satellite radio service.

Chaunce Hayden, a regular guest on Stern’s radio show, confirmed Monday that he had been ordered to testify at an SEC office in New York on Wednesday.

Hayden said he probably was identified because he broadcast a prediction that Stern was headed for Sirius a few weeks before the official announcement was made.

Hayden made his comment last year during his gossip segment on ABC News Live, Walt Disney Co.’s experiment with a 24-hour Web channel. Hayden said he mused that buying Sirius shares would be “a good bet.”

“The one time I’m right, I get a subpoena,” said Hayden, who said he received the order last week in a FedEx package.

Hayden no longer appears on the ABC channel.

Hayden, an editor of Steppin’ Out, a New Jersey-based entertainment magazine, said he doesn’t own any stock outside of a 401(k) retirement plan, and that he didn’t take his own advice to buy Sirius shares.

Hayden said he knew nothing about the investigation until he began receiving calls from someone claiming to be an SEC investigator with “important questions” related to an insider- trading probe. Hayden first thought the calls were a prank.

The SEC was closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday and calls left with officials weren’t returned.