Judge Clears Way For SiriusXM Settlement In Podcast Transcript Case.

A federal judge has cleared the path for SiriusXM and the National Association of the Deaf to finalize a settlement in their long-running dispute over podcast transcripts, while warning the parties there will be no more lengthy delays if the agreement falls apart.

District Judge Jeannette Vargas has approved the parties’ request to extend the stay of litigation through Oct. 30 after they reported reaching “an agreement in principle on all key terms” following three mediation sessions.

“The Court is pleased to hear about the progress made with respect to settlement negotiations,” Vargas wrote in a brief order. She said litigation deadlines will remain suspended “to permit the parties to finalize their agreement in principle.”

In a significant procedural move, Vargas also withdrew SiriusXM’s pending motion for judgment on the pleadings as moot, saying that because the parties have reached an agreement in principle, the motion no longer requires a ruling.

The judge also made clear that her patience is running out. “The parties are cautioned, however, in light of the already lengthy stays that have been granted, the Court is unlikely to grant any further stay of this litigation,” Vargas wrote. Instead, she told the parties they “should either be prepared to dismiss this case or to proceed with this litigation” by Oct. 30.

The judge ordered the parties to file another joint status report by Oct. 23 advising whether the settlement agreement has been finalized. If not, they must outline how the litigation will resume, including a renewed motion for judgment on the pleadings and a revised case management schedule.

The lawsuit, filed in 2021 by the National Association of the Deaf and Disability Rights Advocates, alleges SiriusXM failed to provide podcast transcripts for deaf and hard-of-hearing listeners on its SiriusXM and Pandora platforms. While the company has since rolled out transcripts for English-language podcasts on SiriusXM and has said similar functionality would come to Pandora, it has also argued that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply to streaming services because they are not “places of public accommodation.”

Since the lawsuit was filed, the two sides have been focused on the discovery process, with SiriusXM turning over more than 1,000 documents to the Association during the evidence-collection process. The case has been on hold since May 2025 while the parties pursued mediation. After three sessions before retired Magistrate Judge Steven Gold, they recently told the court they had reached an agreement in principle and were working to finalize a written settlement.

This latest order signals the litigation is nearing its end — but also sets a firm deadline. Unless the settlement is completed by late October, Judge Vargas has made clear the case will move forward rather than remain in mediation.