Howard Stern gets $83 million bonus from Sirius

[DanXIII 8]

I guess he's not coming back to terrestrial radio after all.

 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/b...gy/16419431.htm

[phillybear 366]

Sirius projected subcriber numbers are way down from forecasted numbers from last year, their stock price continues to freefall, and they didn't gain any ground on XM in the last year. Yet, they continue to pay mega bucks to someone that works about 3 days a week. Is it any wonder that Sirius is going to go belly up soon, and leave XM with a monopoly. Those Sirius executives are idiots.

 

Good for Howard though. Hell, grab all the free money you can. You deserve the pay day after all those years of broadcasting and after retiring last January so you could coast on your laurels and file lawsuits against your fan's websites.

 

What a clusterfock.

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

Sirius projected subcriber numbers are way down from forecasted numbers from last year, their stock price continues to freefall, and they didn't gain any ground on XM in the last year. Yet, they continue to pay mega bucks to someone that works about 3 days a week. Is it any wonder that Sirius is going to go belly up soon, and leave XM with a monopoly. Those Sirius executives are idiots.

 

Good for Howard though. Hell, grab all the free money you can. You deserve the pay day after all those years of broadcasting and after retiring last January so you could coast on your laurels and file lawsuits against your fan's websites.

 

What a clusterfock.

 

That does not really jive with what the analysts are saying with respect to market share.

[GobbleDog 996]

$12 per month x 12 months = $144

Connection fee = $25

Florida Tax = $16

Reciever = $100

 

 

Total = $285 for one year of radio. Additional $160 every year after. And if you want to listen to it in your house, the boombox costs an additional $100. If you don't want any static in your car, you have to buy an adaptor and then pay somebody to hard wire it.

 

Sirius Satellite Radio.... what a deal!

[phillybear 366]

That does not really jive with what the analysts are saying with respect to market share.

 

OK. You're right. I was talking about number of subscibers. If both are growing, the Sirius market share is mathematically growing as well.

 

There were a lot of predictions that Sirius would have overtaken XM by now. Didn't come close to happening. Now, after the Stern bump, I don't see how Sirius will catch XM any time soon.

 

I'm just grumpy today. Which is pretty much the same as every other day.

 

Edit: Also, I don't own either. I'm just tired of the commercials.

[GobbleDog 996]

 

I'm just grumpy today. Which is pretty much the same as every other day.

 

Grumpy? But you correctly predicted my Gators would beat Ohio State even though they were 8 point underdogs!!!

 

Phillybear = Prognosticator extrordinare!!!

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

OK. You're right. I was talking about number of subscibers. If both are growing, the Sirius market share is mathematically growing as well.

 

There were a lot of predictions that Sirius would have overtaken XM by now. Didn't come close to happening. Now, after the Stern bump, I don't see how Sirius will catch XM any time soon.

 

I'm just grumpy today. Which is pretty much the same as every other day.

 

Edit: Also, I don't own either. I'm just tired of the commercials.

 

XM has 7.6M. Sirius has 6.0M. The gap is shrinking based upon new adds by quarter. Both are still losing money overall, but cash flow positive is in sight for each. I would say that both are moving along as predicted with Sirius having a slightly better 2006 (comparatively). They probably need to merge to see any real traction, but I would imagine that they are both too stubborn to do that.

 

As far as you being grumpy, go kill a hooker. It will make you feel better. Always works for me.

[DanXIII 8]

XM has 7.6M. Sirius has 6.0M. The gap is shrinking based upon new adds by quarter. Both are still losing money overall, but cash flow positive is in sight for each. I would say that both are moving along as predicted with Sirius having a slightly better 2006 (comparatively).

 

This is a good point. It reminds me of Amazon.com. They were around for years before they finally showed their first accounting "profit" but they were able to hang around longer than most predicted they would due primarily to their excellent cash-flow situation.

 

More often than not, in the business world, "beating expectations" > "doing well."

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

This is a good point. It reminds me of Amazon.com. They were around for years before they finally showed their first accounting "profit" but they were able to hang around longer than most predicted they would due primarily to their excellent cash-flow situation.

 

More often than not, in the business world, "beating expectations" > "doing well."

 

Provided that you have a solid business model. Fortunately for satellite radio, they have a blueprint with the success of cable TV and with the success of audio-only options (MP3 and iPod). Whether they can be successful from a business standpoint, remains to be seen, but the framework is there. I still think that consolidation is necessary before they will see true profitability, since there is significant overlap in content.

 

Until then, I will enjoy my subscription

[redtodd 7]

$12 per month x 12 months = $144

Connection fee = $25

Florida Tax = $16

Reciever = $100

Total = $285 for one year of radio. Additional $160 every year after. And if you want to listen to it in your house, the boombox costs an additional $100. If you don't want any static in your car, you have to buy an adaptor and then pay somebody to hard wire it.

 

Sirius Satellite Radio.... what a deal!

 

You pay Florida tax?

 

I still think it is worth every cent. No commercials, and a LOT more variety.

[GobbleDog 996]

You pay Florida tax?

 

I still think it is worth every cent. No commercials, and a LOT more variety.

Yep. The Sirius opperator who connected me over the phone said that Florida has the highest tax out of all the states.

 

In my opinion, I think Sirius is WAY too expensive. And only the music stations have no commercials; all of the rest of the channels have commercials every 15 minutes or so. If I hadn't gotten it for Christmas, I never would have bought it for myself. And now that I know all of the costs involved, I've been telling my friends who don't have it exactly how expensive it is and telling them that I don't think it's worth it.

 

But that's just my subjective opinion. Obviously there are a lot of people who do think it's worth the $300 to $400 in start up costs followed by $144+ every year after. I'm just not one of them.

[redtodd 7]

Yep. The Sirius opperator who connected me over the phone said that Florida has the highest tax out of all the states.

 

In my opinion, I think it's WAY too expensive. And only the music stations have no commercials; all of the rest of the channels have commercials every 15 minutes or so. If I hadn't gotten it for Christmas, I never would have bought it for myself. And now that I know all of the costs involved, I've been telling my friends who don't have it exactly how expensive it is and telling them that I don't think it's worth it.

 

But that's just my subjective opinion. Obviously there are a lot of people who do think it's worth the $300 to $400 in start up costs followed by $144+ every year after. I'm just not one of them.

 

I think the biggest headache is the initial costs. For me it wasn't too bad. I planned on buying a new radio for my car. I got one that was Sirius ready. So that initial cost was something I was going to spend anyways. The tuner was free (because I bought a Kenwood brand). All I had to pay for was the antenna ($30 or $40) and the installation was free (because I bought it was Cuircuit City). I just have to pay the monthly charge.

 

The monthly charge is nothing to me. I think of what I waste $12 a month on I consider this a deal. The comedy stations, NFL Network and commercial free on the music stations is worth it to me alone. Add in the fact that I can listen to ESPN Radio, Discovery Channel Radio (surprisingly good at times), New Stations and that is a bonus.

 

Also, since I travel at lot for the comedy, it is nice to always have reception and not be stuck choosing betweek the two crappy rock stations.

[GutterBoy 2,899]

During the same time period, XM added the same number of subscribers.

 

Stupid Mel

[GobbleDog 996]

The comedy stations, NFL Network and commercial free on the music stations is worth it to me alone. Add in the fact that I can listen to ESPN Radio, Discovery Channel Radio (surprisingly good at times), New Stations and that is a bonus.

 

Also, since I travel at lot for the comedy, it is nice to always have reception and not be stuck choosing betweek the two crappy rock stations.

 

My hang-up is just the costs involved. "Only $12 a month!' is a deceptive when you consider all of the start up costs and accessories.

 

But as far as the stations available... I admit I really have enjoyed it. And like you said, it's great for traveling on long trips. Since I only got it in late December, I'm still finding good new stations every day. I haven't listened to the Discovery Channel yet. I'll give that a shot.

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

During the same time period, XM added the same number of subscribers.

 

Stupid Mel

 

Net subscribers or gross? I think that XM always has a ton of gross adds, but they lose a lot because of the 90 car subscriptions that they sell.

 

If I remember the announcements made by both over the last few weeks, I believe that Sirius added more (net) than XM in 2006.

 

It might also be that Oprah is packing them in with new subscriptions at XM.

[NewbieJr 541]

Meanwhile, Opie and Anthony are drawing a 1.2 share in Philly. The same as David Lee Roth was.

[phillybear 366]

Meanwhile, Opie and Anthony are drawing a 1.2 share in Philly. The same as David Lee Roth was.

 

That is likely to be a station rating. I think during the summer book, O&A were #2 among all male listeners, with over a 5 share, but I don't remember the exact numbers. So their rating would be much, much higher than a 1.2. I haven't seen any numbers for the fall yet. Also, WYSP's rating are growing with the current format, so I have no idea were that 1.2 is from.

 

Most of the time, the public only is exposed to an overall station rating. Individual shows are released by Arbitron to radio stations only, and many stations don't make them available to the public either. Which is why people say O & A are losing to Whoopie in New York, for example, when reality is you have to look at time slot, and demographics. The station Whoopie is on pulls a higher overall rating.

 

And if O & A were failing, they wouldn't be on 25+ stations, and keep adding more affiliates all the time.

[GutterBoy 2,899]

Net subscribers or gross? I think that XM always has a ton of gross adds, but they lose a lot because of the 90 car subscriptions that they sell.

 

If I remember the announcements made by both over the last few weeks, I believe that Sirius added more (net) than XM in 2006.

 

It might also be that Oprah is packing them in with new subscriptions at XM.

 

Net, stupid.

 

Sirius Subs Oct 2004: 600K

Xm Subs Oct 2004: 2.5M

 

Sirius Subs Dec 2006: 6.0M

Xm Subs Dec 2006: 7.6M

 

So actually, in the same time since Howard announced his move to Sirius, XM has added roughly the same number of subscribers, and yet Howard gets a huge bonus. Like Phillybear said, that's why Sirius is in bad shape.

[JT 137]

Net, stupid.

 

Sirius Subs Oct 2004: 600K

Xm Subs Oct 2004: 2.5M

 

Sirius Subs Dec 2006: 6.0M

Xm Subs Dec 2006: 7.6M

 

So actually, in the same time since Howard announced his move to Sirius, XM has added roughly the same number of subscribers, and yet Howard gets a huge bonus. Like Phillybear said, that's why Sirius is in bad shape.

 

 

So XM has increased the size of their audience threefold, while Sirius has grown 10x larger? Additionally, Sirius subs have gone from roughly 1/4 the size of XM to 75%?

 

You can spin the numbers any number of ways, but if Sirius' goal was to become bigger player, with a greater share of the overall market, it looks like they've done spectacularly well.

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

Net, stupid.

 

Sirius Subs Oct 2004: 600K

Xm Subs Oct 2004: 2.5M

 

Sirius Subs Dec 2006: 6.0M

Xm Subs Dec 2006: 7.6M

 

So actually, in the same time since Howard announced his move to Sirius, XM has added roughly the same number of subscribers, and yet Howard gets a huge bonus. Like Phillybear said, that's why Sirius is in bad shape.

 

Math major, huh? According to Franknbeans, you just got owned because you resorted to using names

 

According to your stats:

Sirius net adds: 5.4M

XM net adds: 5.1M

 

Market share before: XM = 81%, Sirius 19%

Market share after: XM = 56%, Sirius 44%

 

Of course, you fail to recognize that the "Howard effect" would not really start until the last quarter of 2005 at the earliest. As such, you are including an additional year of stats in which XM was still making grades.

 

I would think that you would want to look at more recent numbers and the impact since Stern started broadcasting on Sirius (1-9-06). According to Forbes, Sirius added 1 million more subscribers than XM in 2006.

[GutterBoy 2,899]

So XM has increased the size of their audience threefold, while Sirius has grown 10x larger? Additionally, Sirius subs have gone from roughly 1/4 the size of XM to 75%?

 

You can spin the numbers any number of ways, but if Sirius' goal was to become bigger player, with a greater share of the overall market, it looks like they've done spectacularly well.

 

If you want to play that game, then Sirius probably increased its audience size by 100x in the months before Stern signed on.

 

In the battle to add subscribers, both companies added about 5M subs each in the same time frame, period.

 

I would think that you would want to look at more recent numbers and the impact since Stern started broadcasting on Sirius (1-9-06). According to Forbes, Sirius added 1 million more subscribers than XM in 2006.

 

Well, if you listen to most Stern fans, people started signing up for Sirius the day he announced. In fact, Howard himself takes credit for the 5M, and he says they were added in 1 year.

[phillybear 366]

Well, looks like all of the usual suspects are now here and interwoven into the fabric of this thread, which has devolved into a Stern vs Opie & Anthony thread.

 

 

I predict we get nowhere fast. I might bail out on the thread completely. Have fun.

[JT 137]

If you want to play that game, then Sirius probably increased its audience size by 100x in the months before Stern signed on.

 

Ah, yes. That confusing 'comparative growth of two companies based on the facts' game.