Howard Stern signed to Sirius (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Yeah, I've seen the "SIRIUS to go belly up" threads all over XMFan and elsewhere.

Howeer, while SIRIUS is shelling out $500M (over five years) they don't shell out penny 1 until 2006. Which means every day from now until then, they get free advertising in Howard Stern and others. They are already reaping benefits from their NFL agreement, which has put them at the forefront of the news.

To cover the expense of Stern & NFL SIRIUS will need 1.4M subscribers, which is roughly double what they have now. (Eminem's contract is for pennies, because SIRIUS offered him programming exclusives and rotation capabilities and promotion of his newly signed artists). So, they need to add 700,000 subscribers.

That is a daunting task, but still, as Merryl Lynch and other stock analysts have pointed out, that kind of conversion would mean you'd bring over a very small percentage of Stern's already 15M listening audience as well as gains from the NFL & NHL fans, which SIRIUS has been doing a pretty good job of bringing in.

Do I think SIRIUS can double it's base? Absolutely. I feel as though these kind of "gets" are enticing to the right kind of audience, and help market SIRIUS as the network with "premiere" content that you don't pay extra for.. which is anothe perk: if you want Stern or his networks, or NFL, or Eminem, there are no extra fees. You want O&A on XM? Shell out extra bucks.

 

[Joe McCabe]

You're forgetting two things.

1.) It's already $3 more a month for Sirius, so even with O&A's fee, it's still a dollar more.

2.) Stern had stated that he will be offering a premium channel on Sirius in addition to a free one. Don't be surprised if it ends up that the free show has profanity edited out, and the totally uncensored show is a premium.
If there's a channel to pay for, they're gonna make sure that's the one you want.

 

[Chris]

SIRIUS has already said that Stern misunderstood, and that no channel would be at any inflated cost. FYI, for those of us that pay SIRIUS on a yearly basis, it's $10/month.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

That's a good deal but most people don't look at
the long term subscription deals. All they see up
front is XM=$9.95 and SIRIUS=$12.95

Not trying to throw an extra insult in here, but
the average consumer is not going to see those prices
up front.

 

[Chris]

Well, this makes an interesting conundrum, though, because you're betting on the average consumer looking at it and just saying "more cost"; by the same token, I would wager that the average consumer (not on HTF, etc.) would look at the two services and say:

"This one has the NFL, NHL, College games, Stern, Eminem as exclusives"

And say to themselves "this must be the "PREMIER" network" making that same assumption in regards to their music lineup Now, you know from your experience that you don't believe that's so. That having been said, people who look at it without knowing will say "this one obviously spends more on higher quality content"

 

[WillG]

And I think that is the most refreshing part about the show. When it comes to Howard, who cares about Billy Joel's wedding or what new show Kelly Osborne has. Opie and Anthony's show has always been alot more freeform and interacive. They have the feel of regular dudes which is what Howard used to be like before he got divorced and went Hollywood. Even thought their broadcast on XM has been rough so far, I have laughed more in one week with them, than Stern all year. His show is just too excruciating now.

Don't forget that Stern is a guy who characterized himself in his own movie as a nice guy who was treated like an asshole by Imus. That may have been true, but Howard, please watch your own movie.

Ron, I am glad you are and O&A fan, and I urge you to do whatever you can on this forum to promote them. You could probably even get on their show without too much difficulty and blow up this forum even more. I remember when IMDB first came into attention and they did a whole bit on it.

 

[TheLongshot]

And you can pay as little as $8.33/month for XM if you pay multiple years ahead, which BTW, are fully refundable if you cancel early.

Jason

 

[TonyD]

so is anyone worried that stern's show will be like the new ren and stimpy shows?

no restraint/all gross-out thats way over the top.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Tony,

Sounds like the O&A show.

Yes, I am certain Stern's show will be a clone
of Opie and Anthony's show.

Actually, there are some pretty interesting
stories about Sirius and Stern that were discussed
on the O&A show this past week.

According to the boys, it was them that
Sirius wanted in the first place. Sirius courted
them in NYC for a few days. O&A went to Sirius and
found the station to be too primitive and were very
concerned about the lack of listenership.

When O&A turned down the offer, Sirius turned
the situation around and went to the Press citing
that the station wasn't interested in them.

But the truth is, Sirius knew that O&A were a
better prospect than Howard Stern. They knew that
O&A were fresh talent and that they had better
chances of being successful for Sirius.

...and from what we have all heard this past week
the stories about Howard Stern are true. Opie and
Anthony were huge fans of Stern but Howard's ego
got in the way.

 

[Jean D]

Not to mention that Sirius wouldn't have spent $500 million on O&A. So they would've been in better financial standings.

 

[Chip E]

Seems to me, O&A are Stern wannabee's and have stolen Howard's gig.. I've listened since the beginning.. I will sign up. Obviously their all jackasses

Anyone have any suggestions for a good home unit to put in my AV rack? Don't have a price range..it's all new to me.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I'm surprised to see so much spite here coming from the anti-Sirius camp. I'm sure if they had landed the NFL and Stern, they wouldn't be in this forum bashing them.

Of course Sirius had talks with O&A before Stern. Not only are they cheaper, they were already available (not contracted elsewhere).

I'm not going to get into this whole "which one rules and which one sucks" debate. Taste in entertainment is subjective, and I don't see anything productive in arguing the point. We aren't a bunch of 12-year olds debating Nintendo versus Playstation.

Howard is much, much bigger than O&A, and signing him is a home run and Sirius will cover the expenses. Here in Cincinnati nobody even knows who O&A are, but I know several people who are already planning on getting Sirius for Stern. I only know O&A due to my travels for work. They have never been in this market, and at their peak they were only in about a third of the markets that Stern is in. Do not dismiss the Stern fans who can't even hear him on the radio. Stern show regulars get paid to make appearances in markets where Stern is not carried (example: KC and Beetlejuice getting paid thousands to fly out to a bar in Arkansas to make an appearance). Why? Because of the E! show. There are many markets that want Stern but the advertisers are afraid of pressure from conservative pressure groups. For Sirius to get a million subs due to Stern is a no-brainer. For Sirius to become a market leader due to deals like NFL, Stern, Eminem is very likely. XM had better wake up.


For the record, I do not subscribe to XM or Sirius.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Wherever I go or even browse people are talking about subbing to Sirius. Scott Kurtz, cartoonist:

 

[Jean D]

Administrators Delete this post please. I double posted by accident

 

[Jean D]

Thats because we all know that Xbox is the best platform here.

I still will hold out for now. From here on out, its all competitive, XM Vs. Sirius, which means better deals comming for us all in the longrun. XM has to make the next move. Because lets be honest, Sirius buying Stern was a HUGE move. its like a Pawn taking a Queen.

As far as Stern not being good anymore, that may or may not be so once he switches and has free reign like never before. We all know Disciplinary actions eventually make people conform. Stern has had to conform for how many years now? Yes it will tone you down over time. Spirit isnt flawless, especially when you've already accomplished all you've set out to do. Maybe this move to Sirius will force Stern to get creative again.

I do have a question. During talk shows (i.e. O&A, Stern, etc.)on satellite radio do they have callers? Can you call into the show? I would assume that you could, but is it typical?

 

[Chris]

SIRIUS talk shows have always taken callers; including their originals, on air.. hell, I've been on air with them

 

[Ronald Epstein]

O&A take callers throughout the sjow.

 

[Jason Brent]

Well, I don't know what to think yet.

I've had XM for a little over a month now. So far I like it.

I went ahead and decided to try out the O&A channel yesterday afternoon. Listened to the re-broadcast on the way home, and the live show this morning.

So far I'm not that impressed. They are OK. I laugh for a minute or two, and then it's boring for the next 30 minutes until someone else says something funny. I had never even heard of O&A until reading in this forum.

I also like channel 152 on XM, but can't stand Phil Hendrie.....he's like the radio equivilent to Jerry Springer.

As far as music goes with XM......I have somewhat mixed emotions. I typically hang out on the decades, and while I like hearing songs I haven't heard in a long time, I will only hear them once. You know that feature on the Roady 2's that you can 'bookmark' a song, and it will alert you when it's on again??? I've never gotten one alert.

I will probably try Sirius. XM is OK for the most part. I just want to find out if it is the best service for MY listening habits.

 

[BrianAe]

Jason,

One good thing about Sirius is you can stream the music stations for free over the web for 3 days to try it out.

Good luck.

 

[TheLongshot]

I find that an ungodly useless feature. I would have liked it better if it alerted me if an artist was playing on another station.

Course, you can't be listening 24/7, so it always could play while you are away.

Jason