The pay-radio service, Sirius XM Radio Inc, has managed to overcome the most critical issue facing it - the intimidating debt limits this year - by finally closing its $530 million cash infusion deal with John Malone's Liberty Media Corp.

Though Charlie Ergen, CEO EchoStar Corp, looked for control of Sirius, by buying a large amount of its debt due last month, Sirius resorted to Liberty Media instead for aid.

The finalization of Sirius' deal with Liberty spells at least a year's relief for the popular satellite radio service stressed due to a profound debt stack. In case the deal had gone kaput and if Sirius had not refinanced or paid off debt due this year, a bankruptcy filing was pretty evident.

About Sirius' deal with Liberty, the company's CEO Mel Karmazin, said in a statement: "These transactions resolve all of the uncertainty surrounding the company's and its subsidiaries' debt maturing in 2009."

Out of the Liberty investment, Sirius has paid $280 million - loaned prior to the looming debt deadline - towards last month's due debt of $171.6, while the remaining amount would go towards the company's wide-ranging corporate uses.

In exchange for its investment in Sirius, Liberty would receive 12.5 million shares of new preferred stock convertible into a controlling 40 percent Sirius stake, which would help Sirius ward off Echostar's takeover attempt!