Howard Stern Contract Decision Pending
As most who follow Sirius XM already know, Howard Stern is in the final months of his 5 year contract with Sirius XM Radio. Stern was responsible for a huge boost in both the number of satellite radio subscribers as well as the awareness of satellite radio. He also has is one of the most popular and listened to channels on Sirius XM, and a driver for those on the XM platform to subscribe to the Best of Sirius.
In Sirius XM’s Q2 conference call today there was no talk of Stern until the very end when Sirius XM’s Mel Karmazin announced that the company hopes to have an announcement prior to the Q3 earnings call. The third quarter runs through September, and typically the company reports about 5 weeks later. That would mean that it is anticipated that a decision will be known sometime in the next three months. We have waited this long….what’s a few more moths?
What will happen first….The Stern deal or the XM5 satellite launch?
There are some interesting dynamics at play that should also be considered. Let’s first assume that Stern will re-sign. He himself has indicated 70% odds that this would happen. Will Bubba The Love Sponge come with the deal? There is speculation that Bubba will go by the wayside in favor of his terrestrial deal and Radioio (internet radio service) deal. Will Stern remain on the Sirius platform or be moved to the XM platform? The Best of Sirius thus far is more popular than the Best of XM, but the company seems to be leaning toward the XM side with hardware. How many days a week will he work? How long will the deal be, and perhaps more noteworthy, will he be available on the mobile platform? There are many aspects to this deal, and it is complicated by the various platforms.
The original Stern deal was oft misunderstood by nearly everyone. Hopefully this deal will clearly spell out all of the platforms, as well as the anticipated costs in a way that the street understands. In the original deal people thought all of that money went to Stern. That was not the case. It was a budgeted amount that went to pay for the content on the Stern channels.
It looks like we have less than 90 days before we know Stern’s decision. The clock is ticking, fans, investors, and the street all are eager to know the outcome.
Position – Long Sirius XM Radio
“when Sirius XM’s David Frear announced that the company hopes to have an announcement prior to the Q3 earnings call.”
Mel turned into David Frear????
Was listening to the call again, and Frear was talking as I was writing…..LOL
I corrected it
When you sit in on the negotiations Spencer, can you please tell them to put Howard on my Droid? Thanks!
SOs, what is going on with the SP? Are we now a normal stock? Good news and no downturn, yet? Where was the run-up like all of the other CC? This changes everything? We all have to be confused. I was all set to sell and buy back at 20-30 cents less. After rarely doing that for five years. HELP! HELP!
I find it hard to believe that they would switch Stern to XM. Why move him off the Sirius side to toss away the better performing Best of XM package revenue? You mentioned that H100/101 are “one of the most popular and listened to channels on Sirius XM”. I’d love to see the stats (have they ever been released?)…there is no way that week in and week out H100/101 are not the #1 channels.
Perhaps he will go all “Best of”. It would be one way for Sirius to boost its ARPU.
a few years ago, another website posted the top channels on sirius and 100/101 were #1 by a huge margin. it was pretty pathetic to see the actual statistics of 30,000 people listening to the bruce springsteen channel and what not.
I wish that Sirius-XM would once and for all times combine the two station lineups into one. They are no longer two companies, but to an extent they still operate like two separate entities. That not only applies to the stations, but also to the two former companies having each their own headquarters, duplication of management and all of the other needs and unnecessary overhead of two independent companies. Time to get it ALL together so subscribers can get the full benefit of both companies without paying extra. I bet they could also save a bunch more money by doing away with the vast duplication that still exists.
I know Howards not for everyone but he does represents where sat. radio needs to be with content.If they could get the rest of their channels to create half the excitment/buzz that Stern creates you’d see that conversion rate explode. I want people, when buying a car or investing in new audio, to not want sirius/xm but need sirius/xm. I don’t know if they need more channels or just make sure what they have is the very best. Howard may need to be program director.
if sirius switches stern to xm hardware and i can no longer listen to stern on my sirius sportster without getting the ‘best of xm’ bs.. I WILL CANCEL.
If ANYTHING changes I will cancel. If Howard doesn’t resign, if they move him to XM, if my hardware is in the least bit not as effective as it currently is, I’ll cancel. The company has been going down-hill since the merger and the price isn’t quite so reasonable these days.
I’ll cancel my 8 sirius accounts if Howard leaves and followo him where he goes … plus the stock will die. They need to figure out a way to make him happy and stay weather it be 2 days a week or 4.
I purposely made my contract end this year. If he doesn’t resign, I will go where ever he goes. I really like the idea of him going online, podcast or app based. Who doesnt have a smartphone these days?
If Howard is gone. I am gone. I listen only to Howard on sirius. He is what I pay for.
I purchased a life time subscription to Sirius because of Howard.
I have a second subscription that will notbe renewed if Howard does not sign.
The Howard is the Media
I hope he walks, runs, falls off, whatever. I’ve had two subscriptions to Sirius for a number of years, and resented my subscription paying for this trash. Dump Stearn, and I’ll buy more stock – maybe lots of it.