Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York on Thursday, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said that while SiriusXM CEO Mel Karmazin has done a "great" job running the satcaster, he is not "irreplaceable." According to Reuters, Maffai said, "I think there are plenty of people who could do a great job running the business."

He added that Karmazin deserves "a lot of credit for what he's done" for SiriusXM and that the company's Board will still discuss a new contract with him. However, "without Mel. the business will not fail."

Earlier this month, Karmazin told investors that he could leave the satcaster at the end of 2012, when his contract is up, adding that if he was in Liberty's shoes, he might say, "I'm not sure we need Mel."