Bubba’s Raw Deal – Stern Devalued
As SiriusBuzz readers are already aware (Sirius XM Makes The Biggest Mistake Of The New Year, and Bubba The Replay Love Sponge Speaks Out), the new deal with Bubba The Love Sponge is rubbing subscribers the wrong way. This deal brings a watered down Bubba that in Shock Jock terms amounts to sloppy seconds, as the show aired on Sirius XM Radio is a replay of Bubba’s morning drive show on terrestrial radio.
This new deal is wrong on so many levels, it makes even the most ardent satellite radio fans scratch their heads! Welcome To Extreme Entertainment Makeover, Satellite Radio Edition – Where programming changes happen before you realize it!
1. The type of deal was not disclosed to listeners. This is a slap across the face to subscribers, and shows little respect for the customer base. This move, coupled with the channel shuffle, and a few others are bad for a business that relies on consumers to pay for services. It comes off like a bait and switch, and no one appreciates that.
2. Bubba is a master at viral marketing. He knows how to rile up his fans, and they speak LOUDLY. The Bubba Army always goes to bat for Bubba, and right now that army feels like they were ambushed.
3. Bubba is a part of the Howard brand. This deal, structured to “save money”, effectively serves on a black mark in the “Is The Howard Deal Worth It” debate. We now have a major show and featured aspect of the Howard channels relegated to 1 live show per week and four replays of a watered down terrestrial show.
4. Sirius just lost all interaction with fans being able to call in and participate in the show. This show is recorded in the morning, and Sirius XM listeners do not get catch the show until afternoon drive. Today we were treated to discussion about terrestrial ratings, and who is the “King of Jocks” in Jacksonville! This is not at all topical for satellite radio fans who have come to expect more from satellite than they get on terrestrial. For many, Howard 101 just became non-priority channel.
5. As Bubba’s terrestrial deal expands, and now it will, the satellite radio audience will begin to tune out more and more. Sure the model has worked for Opie and Anthony, but at least they had a satellite radio portion each day. With the Bubba deal, fans will only get the “REAL SHOW” once per week.
6. Sirius XM just lost a huge selling point to the truckers out there. Mile after mile, these hard working cogs in the American machine have become satellite radio fans. Yes, commercial free music and a national footprint play a role, but it is also uncensored entertainment that differentiates satellite from terrestrial.
7. Advertisers who were once attracted to satellite because of the unique programming will now see the impact of less listeners on one of the channels that draws the most ad revenue. Bubba Live Reads are gone, and a pre-recorded ad does not have the same impact.
8. The “BEST OF” Sirius just lost value. Subscribers who just ponied up dollars for adding a year of “BEST OF” will be all over the net expressing yet another frustration with satellite radio. This is not a good piece of marketing, and I have a feeling this will become a major issue in the coming days, as the word continues to spread.
Now, to be fair, I do not know the terms Bubba was looking for. In my opinion, it could have perhaps rivaled Chris Mad Dog Russo money, but that is about the peak of what I think the show would have been seeking. Are things so bad at Sirius XM that a deal with Bubba could not make financial sense? Aren’t massive merger synergies happening that would allow original programming such as Bubba’s show to be retained? A move like this evokes a lot of questions at a time when the company needs to be instilling confidence. Set aside the consumer for a moment, and look at this from a lenders, or better yet, an investors perspective. This does not appear to be a confident move by the company. Particularly in the manner in which this news came out.
This piece would not be complete unless it was fair to Bubba and his crew as well. Yes, they signed the deal, but what choice did they really have? No one wants to work for less than they feel they are worth, or in tough economic times, slightly less. Bubba and the crew have a terrestrial radio deal that was growing, and a satellite deal that was apparently shrinking. Their loyalties are perhaps where they should have been. With the company that is giving the best deal (Cox). I can’t blame Bubba for this fiasco. It started a couple of years ago, and has snowballed ever since. Bubba, more than anything, wanted to do a satellite radio show. The deal offered by Cox was indeed lucrative, and he was placed in a position of having to do terrestrial. Now, once again, terrestrial radio is home for Bubba. His gig at Sirius XM has been demoted to part time. Like it or not, the Bubba Army just became the Bubba Florida National Guard by executive decision.
In the end, fans can not blame Bubba for this. Bubba has to run a business and support not only his family, but the families of his employees. This decision, in my opinion, rests on Sirius XM Radio. Someone somewhere in New York thought this was a good move. Time will tell, but I am betting that they will have second thoughts soon.
Position – Long Sirius XM
It’s about money. Sirius XM wants cost reductions wherever they can be obtained.
Will this cost them more in the long run? Time will tell.If it costs SiriusXM more in loss subscriptions then changing his contract they will change it, If not they probably won’t at this time.
But in the meantime I would rather see cost reductions then BK.
Once the company is healthy, they can re-visit contracts.
imho
vaporgold
i agree–Cost reductions, balance sheets and getting banks to refinance debt are priorities or they will going into Bankruptsy which will hurt EVERYONE
Look, this post is out of bounds. We have no idea who is to blame for this. Several things-
1) Do you really believe Bubba wanted to do two shows a day again? I doubt it.
2) Do you really believe Bubba would have given up the terrestrial radio deal? Maybe Sirius wanted him to, and he refused. Sirius and Mel have hated deals that were not exclusive.
3) The contract negotiations may have had nothing to do with money but had to do with Bubba not agreeing to do two shows a day anymore and Sirius not agreeing to re-broadcast Bubba’s morning show. The fact that Bubba is doing one live show sounds like a compromise to me.
I think your anger could be misplaced here. We don’t know what everyone was asking for in these negotiations.
Look at this from me the consumer, My Starmate not working well and need good replacement. I decide to wait out thhe Bubba deal because listening to 101 is great, ferral replay till 9, west coast Stern, Bubba @ 3, I get original content for my 12 hour a day job. 12/18 Bubba renewed for 2 years, no mention of replays ect, I am under the impression that its a live show. So I spend $129 on new Starmate, and all the extra BS you need for home and car. I just cancelled my subscription @ 130pm, after reading the posts, I got bait and switched into $129 that Im sure the kid @ Best buy is going to say you cant return it for spite
i like bubba alot, but he isnt enough to get me to cancel, theres still so many other channels to listen too, honestly im more upset about the led zepplin channel going
cause i know bubba will be back as soon as sirius has improved there financial situation.
Howard said it himself today..this is good for Bubba he gets what he wanted..time off to spend with his family which Bubba said himself is going down hill…Bubba is #1 in Tampa so he gets more money..He still gets to do a live show on Sirius on Fridays while Howards show is not live. When Bubba Goes over the line or possibly gets fired from free radio eventually he will..he can come back then and then Sirius will be in much better shape and everything will work it self out….There are still alot more to listen to on Howard 101 so if your a Bubba fan he still there and Sirius Will never be able to make everyone happy…But if you think cancelling your service is the answer ask yourself what are you gonna do then? Listen to free Radio? Who are you all kidding you are going Nowhere else!!!
UPDATE: Orbitcast has learned that the syndicated airings on Sirius XM are actually uncensored versions of the terrestrial radio show. So these aren’t identical replays to the FM show, but in fact uncensored versions
Then you tell me why I heard beeps yesterday for the first time in 3 years since I left terrestrial? All of the “bits” and “song parodies” on the show are still censored. On top of that I heard a straight dump out because some caller said something that was not fit for terrestrial radio.
I don’t read orbitcast but if that is what he is saying, he is flat out wrong.
The thing that gets me about the whole thing is the shaddy way in which the deal was announced, or in fact not announced. Both sides announced that a deal was made but neither made any mention of the terms. Now I understand that part of the agreement was probably that both sides had to keep the terms a secret but my question is “why?” It seems to me that both sides knew this was a bad thing and were afraid of the inevitable backlash just prior to the holidays. To just show up after the first of the year with the new format seems like a slimmy move to me. I’m not a regular listener but if I were I would feel betrayed and pissed off. It also makes me seriously consider the financial stability of this company that they could not afford to keep one of the major talents exclusively with the company. Whether you like it or not, PEOPLE DO CARE. Just look at the amount of posts to this thread as evidence.
If I did a radio show that featured cursing, naked women and sexually related topics, should I get a huge payday?
First of all, its been done. It was done by Howard, who was first to market. And first to market wins. Bottom line.
In my opinion, Sirius did well to cut the costs of a production that obviously brought in not nearly enough listeners to warrant its continuation.
I think its strange that the point of all of this is going right over peoples heads… very frustrating.
This is not looking good for big money down the road for Bubba from Sirius. I believe they truly dislike him and his listeners anyway. Remember the East Coast/NYC bias? Once broadband streaming of other content matures and millions drop Sirius to go with streaming there will not be enough subscribers to float this pig. Remember that they couldn’t make it with just truckers and rural areas. They hade to have the major metro areas and cars and even then they have troubles. Granted that alot of those troubles are self inflicted but at the end of the day this turd could be easily forced to BR and then taken by old radio for their purposes for a cost of pennies on the dollar. I think we need to remember that Mel without Howard has not been a thrilling addition to radio. I have doubted his intentions for a long time. On another note, the stock has been the victim of an orchestrated short-selling attack for a long time. Paid bashers are all over the boards.
I think you have all beat this sideways
I think Bubba Gump is replaceable and even his total dismissal will have not change outcome with regards to the company- unlike the irreplacable magical talented ill ceo that runs apple.
Frankly,if I were not a shareholder, I would have never even known or cared or listened to this guy.
Demographics with listeners that have”disposable income” to spend on montly sirius bills will not include the “Bubba” people in the future. My guess is that most folks that like this guy live paycheck to paycheck and wont be around as subscribers in the future anyway.
I think sirius dropped the ball on this one. even howard’s attitude was “deal with it”
thats the kind of disregard for subscribers that will make sirius tank faster than the titanic.
I’m a little sore as an investor who lost his shirt, but I’m also getting bored with sattellite radio. too many replays and vacation time off for howard.
artie’s skipping work. I’m losing interest…
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Howard given $500 million to create 2 channels…and isn’t Bubba’s show on one of those channels…shouldn’t some of the Bubba money come out of Howard’s coffers.
Howard discussed Bubba’s situation on the show today and said that Bubba is an icing on the cake (howard is the cake). The icing is expendable for now…at least until Howard retires.
Howard was not given $500 million.
The $500 million was the estimated value of the deal for Howard to program 2 channels. The dollars for Ferall, Bubba, Howard 100 News, etc. come out of that budget. The money is not Howards to spend, but Sirius’
Let me correct you because you are wrong…Howard Stern signed a deal to do one thing…and that one thing was to guarantee he could increase Sirius from 600,000 listeners to the best he could do and to make Sirius a profitable company. With todays estamates of around 19,000,000 listeners after 3 years if we gave him a low ball of 30% that is over 6,000,000 listeners @ 12.99 a month that is almost 80,000,000, a month…It could be as high as half of that figure…Everything that comes with that is icing on the cake…Ya Bubba is icing on the cake but so is Riley…But Like Howard also said today Most of the listeners sign up for him so… Get over it….And don’t forget it was Him and Mel That made that happen (and I guess you can give Tim a little credit) not only are they making it happen and turning Sirius around but also paying for XM Bad mistakes like the money XM spent on Opra which She has done NOTHING….To increase listeners….Have a Nice Day!
I do not agree with what you posted but that is your opinion.
Let me ask you this… can we thank Howard, Mel, and Tim for bringing censored replayed terrestrial radio (that I can get for free on any one of the terrestrial affiliate stations websites) to satellite radio? More specifically to the “no more bullshit” tagged Howard 101, the same station that makes fun of terrestrial radio? If so, I will go put together the best thank you note I can.
Howard also mentioned that they didn’t re-sign Brewer either
From what Howard was saying today that he likes Bubba and stands behind him, you would think he would do something for Bubba. Also, Howard is starting to suck and is getting real boring…..I will not be renewing contract. And like Howard said its only 43c a day but times that by x amount is a lot.
I think I have a handle on why the Sirius music channels with the 60’s,70’s etc. and Classic Rock/Classic Vinyl now suck so bad after the merger changes. I used to drive down the road with my remote in hand just having a great time moving between the channels. Then after the channel changes I was doing a great deal more hopping from channel to channel and still not getting a “groove” so to speak. Then I thought about it and it hit me that prior to the changes the tunes were about 80% A-side and 20% B-side. Now the mix is greater to B-side songs. Also the stuff has no flow from one song to another. That’s what good programmers do. The selections sound randomly generated by a machine. I wonder if they fired people and if they save money somehow by playing a lower tier of music. Like it or not guys and gals on old radio, that had years in programming, could really do a great job putting together playlists when music was the only criteria. I think it was also a big mistake to cut back people like Brucie on the 60’s channel etc. People who like that era liked what he was doing and his unbeatable knowledge of the history of the bands and times. I rarely listen to the music channels now. I listen to the business and news channels more and for the first time in many years don’t care if I miss Howard during work or if I just tune away after hearing the first hour.
Testical Radio on a pay service …. That in itself is a mind F%#$. If I wanted watered down SHIT, I would have not bought 3 Sirius Subscriptions and all the hardware in the office, at home, and in the cars / trucks I own…
Unreal !!!!!!!!
What a crock. Bubba was the ONLY reason I renewed my subscription on Dec. 26th. Because Bubba and Howard assured everyone everything was a done deal. Had they said on the last day of 2008 that they signed this watered down crap… I would NOT have renewed (paid for a full year subscription). I will be calling to see if I can get a refund since we were lied too.
Hey Tyler. You should get a buck for everytime you have to explain Howards contract. You’d be setting up a nice college fund.
I vasilate between thinking that Sirius has broken a sort of unspoken rule regarding separation of Church and State. Or whether in this particular case, it was the best they could do and keep the cost down.
I know that Charles has the correct facts. I’m simply hoping that maybe searching for other ways to bring content at a reduced cost to the company, can be done. Maybe trial and error?
One a side note. There are some strange things going on with the posts these days. I’m going to hope Mel, and for me to hope that Mel can accomplish anything is saying something.
But I”m going to hope that Mel can please make something remotely resembling a positive finance job happen, and hopefully with that, he will…………………………….
GET RID OF THESE PATHETIC,MORON, FUCKING LOSER ASSHOLES THAT WONDER AROUND HERE, POSTING SORRY ASS SHIT. AND MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, HE WILL STICK THEIR HEAD UP THEIR ASS, WHERE THE SUN DON’T SIGN.
YOU AMATEURS SUCK.
LOVE,
SOCAL RUNNING FOOL
Now socal is in favor of a little censoring here and there
I like howard, but lately i get the feeling that he lost sight of the fact that we the fans put him where he is…
if he loses sight of that completely, he stops caring about what we want and thinks of himself as the cake and if he gives us icing it’s a bonus, then I guarantee we the fans will drop him like a hot potato.
the thing i like about howard is he was always looking out for us fans. now Artie skips out when he feels like it… they seem to have the attitude, they are too important to worry about the fans.
too much more of that and he’s history. hopefully he comes around to his senses and realises hes pretty close to losing fans like me. I seriously tuned him out the last couple of days in favor of my ipod because the show was boring me.