Good morning bumping thread
Good morning bumping thread
Happy Thanksgiving!
bump thread
Stern is one the few exclusive content shows Sirius has. Bubba is even a re-hashed terrestrial show now.
You're probably right about the 60% figure. Sirius' music channels offer an average selection, at best, and are not necessary in a world of Pandora, etc..
All my favorite music isn't even played on Sirius: Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Riverside, Zappa, etc...
I'm only there for Stern and when he goes, I go. I kinda hope he does go!
Good Morning bumping
Not so fast my friend.
I've posted this a while back under a different topic. Stern can take his entire franchise direct via internet - both audio and video. No SIRI or On Demand in the middle. So yes, he has alternatives whether they be likely or not. Retirement is an alternative as well.
I think SiriusInvestor has a good read on the situation. Certainly, SIRI can't pay him more regardless of what Howard thinks of himself.
Personally, should he "go direct" he will lose this fan. I've put in enough to enjoy him on SIRI; I'm not doing it again.
I respectfully disagree. Me and my wife have 3 subs, and if Howard goes, we'll likely keep one as we've become fond of The Spectrum and Coffeehouse on the weekends and evenings.
Remember how "it" happened. Sirius contracted Stern, subs went crazy, Sirius "merged" with XM. We can argue sub loss verus Howard's pay, but SIRI will lose subs - no doubt.
Julie - there's really no need to "bump". It's not like there's billions of threads here at the Buzz.
A couple points to make. First, saying that in 5 years people will connect their cell phones to their cars to listen to music is stupid. Why? Because I do that now. And it's super irritating, especially for short trips. Maybe if wireless power matures to the point of being feasible in a car, and all data is sent to the stereo via Bluetooth or another wireless protocol, it would be more practical. But as it is now, I would rather take the quality hit of Sirius and pay for a subscription than have to connect my phone every time I'm in the car to listen to Pandora or something similar. And I can take phone calls.
The other thing you aren't taking into consideration is that Sirius and XM both have/had significant terrestrial networks. Your radio can use satellite or ground-based signals. As Sirius grows, they could go the route of expanding their terrestrial network rather than their satellite network, bypassing the high costs mentioned previously.
No matter how available 3G and 4G and whatever the next generation is becomes, there are always going to be dead areas where there is no terrestrial signal, and that is where satellite shines. Since radio is predominantly used in the car, there will always be the issue of signal strength and dead areas, and satellite largely bypasses that.
To answer the original poster's question, which I haven't seen addressed yet (what would be the effect on SIRI stock), I think that the stock would immediately drop about 5% on the news. Stocks all have inherent headline risk, and people associate Sirius with Stern. However, I believe the things that make Sirius a good stock would not change, and it would recover and continue to grow. I think if you are long on Sirius because of Stern, you haven't done your homework. However, if you are long because of future earnings growth, and confidence in the business model, Stern has nothing to do with those things.
Just my thoughts.
http://www.mediapost.com/publication...art_aid=118856
Interesting article. Obviously, a negotiating ploy by Sern.
He ain't goin' nowhere.
Th wall st journal article is bogus. If they listend to the show they would know that he has been going back and forth about staying for months now and if you tallied all of them up I am sure I have heard him say that he is staying far more then he is leaving. Yet, the journal makes it sound like he has spoken about it once and that he is leaning towards leaving. This is total nonsense and almost looks like a tip off from someone rather then any kind of investigative reporting from someone who actually listens to the show.
Charles LaRocca
SiriusBuzz Founder