According to The New York Times Sirius XM Radio has been working with advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing in a move that could put pressure on the satellite company EchoStar, which owns a substantial amount of the company’s debt.

Sirius has been working with the restructuring expert Joseph A. Bondi
of Alvarez & Marsal and the bankruptcy lawyer Mark Thompson of
Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett to help prepare a Chapter 11 filing,
people close to the company said. The documents and analysis are close
to being completed and a filing could come within days, according to a
person familiar with the matter.

With more than $5 billion in assets, Sirius would be second-largest
company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection so far this year,
according to the research firm Capital IQ’s database. Smurfit-Stone,
which had more than $7 billion in assets when it filed in late January,
was the biggest so far.

More on this story as the news comes in.