Sirius and Liberty, perfect together?

Sirius XM Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Chief Executive Mel Karmazin has escaped the hangman's noose -- for now.

The money-losing home of Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and the NFL got a $530 million investment from John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LCAPA) that will keep Sirius XM out of bankruptcy. Shares of the New York-based company are soaring.

Malone is demanding a steep price in exchange for bailing out Sirius XM. Liberty will provide a senior secured loan of $280 million which matures in 2012 at an interest rate of 15 percent. Sirius XM, though, may have had little choice but to accept such a high interest rate because it had $171.6 million of its maturing 2 1/2 percent notes due Feb 17. Even with today's huge run up, Sirius shares are down more than 94 percent over the past year.