Confirmed: Kidd Chris Mornings on WYSP Starting Monday

[aindik]

Is anyone going to pay him that much on terrestrial? I don't think there's any chance he comes back.

But that's the point. Sirius can't afford to keep him; especially if the merger with XM doesn't go through.

Unless through some miracle Sirius becomes very successful within the next three years, I seriously doubt they will sign him to another contract such as this one.

How can they? Without this merger, both companies will be in serious trouble.

Stern may have no choice but to go back to terrestrial radio and take a pay cut.

The Howard Stern Show for $100 million a year is a bargain for Sirius. Break $100 million a year down and it's 643,500 subscribers at $12.95 a month times 12 months. That's all they need to break even. I think it's a lock that if Stern left Sirius, many more than 643,500 full-price subscribers would cancel.

By the time his contract expires at the end of 2009, internet technology might be advanced enough that he might be able to get 643,500 people to pay $12.95 a month to listen to the show on the internet, even if Sirius died. If I could download a podcast of the Stern show for something like $8 a month, I'd pay.

 

[deadman]

Stern made enough money to retire to the Hamptons

 

[Those RRRRs]

The Howard Stern Show for $100 million a year is a bargain for Sirius. Break $100 million a year down and it's 643,500 subscribers at $12.95 a month times 12 months. That's all they need to break even. I think it's a lock that if Stern left Sirius, many more than 643,500 full-price subscribers would cancel.

I don't have the data on the number of subscribers, but I agree with you that Sirius is damned either way and they know it. They aren't making any money by keeping him and having to pay his salary, and they will surely lose money if/when he departs as the number of subscriptions falls.

 

[jimsocks]

satellite radio can be compared to USA today it has about a 2 or 3 percent marketshare in every city but dominates none... and just like satellite, USA today is only viable for national advertisers. i dont care what anyone says SATELLITE IS NOT THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY!!! the biggest problem is accessibility, you have to go buy allthis crap, hook it up and then call and bitch that it sounds like crap. anyone who is tech savvy (sorry radio guys, most of you aren't) will tell you that with bluetooth capabilities becoming more prolific, streaming audio from your car wirelessly is the true future.... no ipods no clunky satellite unit, just a cell phone with all your music in it and a "receiver" in your car.

any satellite numbers are completely fluffed due to all the deals with car manufacturers that come with free subscriptions which are later canceled once the bills start coming. satellite is crap.

 

[aindik]

satellite radio can be compared to USA today it has about a 2 or 3 percent marketshare in every city but dominates none... and just like satellite, USA today is only viable for national advertisers.

Yet, USA Today is still around and doing well. It's the only paper in the top 20 whose paper circulation is up over the past two years. All the big local papers are down.

i dont care what anyone says SATELLITE IS NOT THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY!!! the biggest problem is accessibility, you have to go buy allthis crap, hook it up and then call and bitch that it sounds like crap. anyone who is tech savvy (sorry radio guys, most of you aren't) will tell you that with bluetooth capabilities becoming more prolific, streaming audio from your car wirelessly is the true future.... no ipods no clunky satellite unit, just a cell phone with all your music in it and a "receiver" in your car.

I don't dispute this. I do think some commercial-free subscription model with live (or, at least, linear) programming will flourish, but it doesn't have to be delivered from space. It does need to be reliable in cars, though.

any satellite numbers are completely fluffed due to all the deals with car manufacturers that come with free subscriptions which are later canceled once the bills start coming. satellite is crap.

I wasn't citing actual subscriber numbers. I was simply doing math on the $100 million Sirius pays for the Stern show. Whatever the numbers are, the show only needs 643,500 people paying full price, who would leave if it wasn't on, to be worth the $100 million. And I think it has that many.