Sirius Sports

Sirius XM Radio just boosted the BEST OF programming option by adding the full NBA line-up. Whether you subscribe to Sirius or XM, you will now have access to the full NBA schedule this season. The announcement comes just one day prior to the beginning of the 2008-2009 NBA schedule.

In an announcement from the National Basketball Association and SIRIUS XM Radio we learned toady that satellite radio will deliver live NBA games to subscribers around the country throughout the 2008-09 season. The NBA and has been involved with satellite radio since 2003, when the NBA became the first major professional sports league to provide live games on SIRIUS.

SIRIUS XM broadcasts more live NBA games than any other radio outlet. Starting with the Opening Night games tomorrow, XM listeners will have access to more than 1,000 regular season games, plus every game of the NBA Playoffs and The Finals. For most SIRIUS listeners, select NBA games will be available through the “Best of XM” programming package.

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Sirius XM Radio’s Chris Mad Dog Russo is not officially launching until September 15th, but today, everyone was treated to a live show broadcast from the ESPN Zone in Times Square. Being right down the street I swung by the Zone to catch a bit of the show, and introduce myself to the latest Sports talk host on Sirius XM Radio.

Russo was his usual self on the microphone, and was in the midst of an interview with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Lookers on were treated to a live show, and while the crowds were not amassed yet, I went made it a point to swing by prior to what will be a rush of people stopping by after 5:00 PM.

ESPN Zone was decked out with some Sirius XM radio banners, and if you are looking for a cool dinner with live entertainment via Chris Mad Dog Russo, try to get into New York prior to 7:00 PM.

When the show went on break, Russo was kind enough to carry on a quick conversation with the people watching the broadcast. I introduced myself, and Russo beamed a big smile, stating it is great to be on board with Sirius XM and broadcasting to a national audience. I congratulated him on coming to satellite, and he gave a gracious thank you.

Catching Mad Dog Unleashed hearkened me back to the sports talk I used to listen to in Boston on Sports Radio WEEI. Having a talent such as Chris Russo on satellite radio is a blessing for fans of any sport, and we can all look forward to the shows official launch on September 15th.

Position - Long SIRI

It would be easy to see how the Sirius XM Signing of Chris Mad Dog Russo would ire Scott Ferrall of Howard 101. Perhaps it might even leave Ferrall a bit twisted. After all, Ferrall has been doing his national sports gig for quite some time on Sirius, and I am sure he has been a bit humbled by all of the press and statements that have surrounded the signing of Chris Russo.

In a press release issued by Sirius XM Radio, the company stated, “Having Mad Dog on SIRIUS and XM will fuel subscriber growth and create new and exciting opportunities for advertisers. Choose whatever sports analogy you want — this is a big win.”

Ferrall never got this kind of love!

In the same Press Release, Sirius XM’s Scott Greenstein said, “Mad Dog is a national personality and now he has a radio audience that spans the country. Already a regular on national television, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Mad Dog will now be heard every day by listeners across the nation. He is now unleashed and the result will be a compelling and informative channel with totally unique access and attitude. We are thrilled he has chosen to join us as we deliver fans the very best in sports talk radio.”

Wow! Where does that leave Ferrall?

Well, Scott Ferrall is a big boy, and as such likely understand the business. The new guy on the block is always lauded. Ferrall should be well capable of understanding this. Ruffled feathers for Ferrall? Yes, I am sure the accolades placed upon Chris Russo sting a bit, but let’s be real here.

Ferrall fans are likely more upset than Ferrall. Scott Ferrall has his deal, and he has his niche. Scott’s show is more entertainment from a 1,000 miles per hour perspective, where Mad Dog goes a bit deeper. Ferrall simply slams teams, where Mad Dog is a bit more politically correct. Ferrall is about the wager, Mad Dog is about what makes the team win.

Simply stated, these are two entirely different shows that have entirely differing interactions with fans. Will fans cross over? Sure, but it would be much better if the shows ran back to back. Instead, Mad Dog’s show will end at 7:00 PM est, and Ferrall will go live at 8:00 PM est on another channel. The fact that the time slots differ should lessen the threat to Ferrall and his fans.

Additionally, Ferrall has Howard Sterns backing, and that should be enough to keep Ferrall satisfied, as well as the fans who feel Ferrall has been slighted. Scott Ferrall has never been mainstream, and I do not think that he ever wanted to be. He is the “underground” sports guy who runs his show with vigor. That being said, Ferrall and Russo are on the same team. Sirius XM Satellite Radio. A satellite delivered service that has room to appeal to many types of fans.

Chris Russo is mainstream, and Ferrall is edgy. Comparisons of the two are not even worth doing. They have different shows, and different perspectives. The two will likely never sit in on the same show, but fans will have the ability to fill their sports fix in a whole new way, and in the end, the consumers win.

Position - Long SIRI

It is official. Chris Mad Dog Russo will be broadcasting his show on Sirius XM Radio. As we speculated here last night, the show will be aired on both the Sirius as well as the XM systems, demonstrating a synergy of the merged company.

SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) announced today that it has signed renowned sports talk personality Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, the former star of the Mike and the Mad Dog show, to a five-year contract to headline a new sports talk channel exclusively available on SIRIUS and XM.

Mad Dog’s recent departure from the market-leading Mike and the Mad Dog has been national news in recent days — a dramatic reflection of his loyal fan base, huge popularity and strong name recognition. Mad Dog is known for having helped popularize the sports talk radio format across the country and speculation on his next step has been high.

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Fresh off of the news that Chirs Russo would be leaving the Mike and the Mad Dog Radio Show, Yahoo has searches for Russ on their top 10 for August 18th, showing that Russo has star power when it comes to sports on Radio.

Even Google shows a huge spike in on line searches for Russo. According to Google, most searches came from New York (Russo’s Show aired on WFAN in New York), but other states such as New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts also had strong results.

Russo previous show hails from the northeast, and it is the Northeast that has been a hotbed for satellite radio for quite some time. Thus, it is quite possible that even though Russo’s show was centered on New York Sports (even though Boston sports are better), that he could transition to a more nationalized scope, and could perhaps even keep his some of his existing New York schtick and go national with it.

At this point, a relationship between Russo and Sirius XM us pure speculation, but the lack of an announced landing spot for Russo could bode well for satellite fans in hopes of seeing Sirius XM sign him. While this may be adding to the speculation, it could be quite possible that, if a deal does exist, it will be launched with the BEST OF programming as well as A-La-Carte. Sirius XM’s Mel Karmazin has stated that announcements will be coming after labor Day. In simple terms, I would look for Russo to be the first talent hired by the merged company that will be available to both Sirius and XM legacy receivers.

People want some excitement and promotion of the merger, and an announcement of a talent such as Russo would give the crossover sports programming a cache as we prepare for baseball playoffs and the beginning of football season.

Would Russo be a good addition to Sirius Xm radio? In my opinion he would. He would be a great promotion for the new merged programming, and would add value by drawing from his fan base to become subscribers. While the impact would not equal the Stern Effect, it would indeed help solidify more unique programming for satellite radio.

UPDATE According to a New York Post article published about 45 minutes after this article, Sirius XM Radio has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow morning to announce the addition of a major sports personality.

Thanks to everyone who emailed.

Position - Long SIRI

NASCAR fans are well aware that the races can be heard on Sirius and satellite radio fans are well aware that Tony Stewart can be heard on his regular Sirius show on NASCAR channel 128.

Today, Tony Stewart finds himself in hot water. After the latest race, magnets were discovered under the gas pedal of his #20 car, as well as the #18 car driven by Joey Logano. To be fair to both drivers, it is not clear whether they were aware of the situation that caused their cars to read differently on the dyno than when racing on the track.

Both drivers race for Joe Gibbs Racing, and run cars from Toyota. Toyota cars have won 15 of 25 races this season in Nationwide, and all but one of those wins came from a Toyota car fielded by the Joe Gibbs team.

As a result of what appeared to be an advantage for Toyota, NASCAR took action a month ago by ordering the Toyota Nationwide teams to use a smaller spacer which would cut about 15 horsepower in their motors. It has been reported that the incident Saturday was apparently an effort to keep the current numbers from looking too strong in the latest test.

Ironically, Tony Stewart has a show that airs on Monday, August 18th. Whether he will discuss the issue is unknown, but there is an audio clip on Sirius that has Tony talking about Risk vs. Reward with only 4 races remaining. Of course Tony was not talking about cheating in the discussion, but one can certainly say now that the risk in cheating will have a stiff penalty for the #20 and #18 teams.

For NASCAR fans, channel 128 on Sirius is a must on Monday

[ via AP ]

Position - Long SIRI

You love baseball, but your car came with Sirius. You love football, but have always been an XM subscriber. These are problems of the past as Sirius and XM have now merged to form Sirius XM Radio. When people think of merger synergies, they tend to think of cost savings that are derived from items such as the elimination of duplicate functions, savings on advertising, or savings in customer service and billing. Some synergies have potential to add revenue, and for investors, the fact that these types of added revenues seem to be getting overlooked could be a positive on the equity.

We covered one obvious revenue stream in Howard Stern, who as the King of All Media, suddenly finds himself with an expanded audience by the addition of XM subscribers that will soon be able to get Sterns program. The next obvious crossover programming would be sports.

Major League Baseball is right now in the midst of a pennant race, and the National Football League is just now ramping up. The timing of the merger from a sports perspective could not be better. XM has every MLB game, Sirius has every NFL game… SIRIUS XM Radio will be able to offer crossover programming in the form of “Best Of”. Best Of will allow existing subscribers to get some of the best from what used to be the other service. The fee for accessing the crossover programming… only $4.04 per month.

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Once again, Sirius will be the exclusive satellite radio provider of every game of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and will offer listeners uninterrupted play-by-play access to every single match-up from the opening round game on March 18 through the National Championship game in San Antonio, TX on April 7.

Sirius will dedicate five channels to tournament coverage and be the only radio broadcaster to air every game in its entirety with no blackouts. The games are slated to air on Sirius channels 121, 122, 126 and 127. Steve Torre will anchor Sirius’ coverage on these channels, providing up-to-the-minute scores and highlights during game breaks and directing listeners to other games around the dial.

Sirius will provide live coverage as tournament brackets are announced on March 16th, giving listeners all the info on who’s in and who’s out, on Sirius Sports Central (ch. 123) from 6:00-9:00 pm ET. For those of you who are looking for the full tourney brackets with match-ups and channel line-ups, you can download them at www.sirius.com/collegesports starting Monday, March 17.

Gentlemen start your engines! Sirius, the official Satellite Radio provider of NASCAR, will provide comprehensive coverage of the Daytona 500, featuring the live race broadcast plus multiple channels carrying in-car audio.

Tune in Sunday, February 17, to hear 15 hours of live coverage of the 50th running of the Daytona 500 starting at 8:00 am ET. NASCAR Radio (ch. 128) will carry the race broadcast live nationwide starting at 2:30 pm ET.

Driver2Crew Chatter channels will also carry the in-car audio of NASCAR’s top drivers, allowing fans to follow the whole race call and the in-car audio of a driver on a single channel. The infamous “Fan’s Choice” channel will feature the in-car audio of a driver determined by fan votes. Race fans can log on to sirius.com/driver2crew and vote for their favorite driver.

For this weekend’s Daytona 500, subscribers can tune into the following:

• Live race call provided by Motor Racing Network (ch. 128)
• Jimmie Johnson in-car audio (ch. 122)
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in-car audio (ch. 125)
• Tony Stewart in-car audio (ch. 126)
• Jeff Gordon in-car audio (ch. 127)
• Fan’s Choice (ch. 123)

New to the Sirius NASCAR Radio lineup in 2008 is an exclusive daily talk show hosted by Danny “Chocolate” Myers, the popular former crew member for the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr., and SIRIUS host Steve Post. Tradin’ Paint will air every weekday from 11-3pm ET.

Sirius announced today that the Tony Stewart Live talk show, hosted by two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart and veteran broadcaster Matt Yocum, will return for its second season on Sirius NASCAR Radio on Monday, February 4th (8:00 pm - 10:00 pm ET).

All you dizzy NASCAR fans should also note that the weekly program has moved to Monday nights from last year’s Tuesday night time slot. The two-hour show airs on Sirius NASCAR Radio (ch. 128), throughout the season and features Stewart and Yocum taking calls from listeners, talking with prominent guests and covering the spectrum of motorsports.

Congrats on the renewal Smoke, those Stewie’s must have been a big hit!