Amazon To Sell DVDs Of TV Episodes, But Will Anyone Buy?

CBS Syndicates Stern's Satellite Rivals

from the shock-jockeying dept

Tue, Apr 25th 2006 8:53am — Carlo Longino

Perhaps it took Howard Stern jumping to satellite radio for it to get CBS Radio's attention. The terrestrial broadcaster has decided to syndicate Stern rivals Opie and Anthony's show from XM, and will broadcast a three-hour segment of it in seven markets. It's an interesting move, not just because it's the first time a terrestrial broadcaster has bought content from a satellite one, but also because the three-hour CBS show will be a censored version of the XM show. Apparently Opie and Anthony will be free to plug XM on the show, so it could help drive some listeners to the satellite service. This deal almost seems like a slap at Stern from CBS, not just because they've hired a big rival, but also because CBS is suing Stern for shilling for Sirius while he was still on their network and not disclosing a stock-incentive deal he was paid after Sirius passed a new-subscriber benchmark at the end of 2005. More likely, though, they're just trying to grab some of Stern's missing listeners, since their experiment with the likes of stalwarts like David Lee Roth doesn't seem to have worked out too well.

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35 Comments

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Dan, 25 Apr 2006 @ 9:12am

If you think this business move is a slap...
... wait till you hear O&A lay into stern in the coming weeks. There was a very subtle message on the show yesterday about playing a friendly game of baseball with howards old tapes. O&A put on a great show, this is a really smart move for both companies IMHO.

/me sits back and waits for the howard stern trolls to see this thread
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evan, 25 Apr 2006 @ 9:39am

Good for CBS, bad for XM.
It seems to me XM is on a downward spiral. First they lost Nascar (which I don't care about, but apparently a lot of people do) and now apparently they have music stations with commercials (their 100% commercial free music slogan disappeared) and now Opie & Anthony, which I think is XM's most popular original show, won't exclusively be on XM either and on regular radio for free. What exactly will draw new subscribers to XM??
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neverender, 25 Apr 2006 @ 9:42am

it will fail.
just like david lee roth did. because cbs is out of touch and not willing to give something a chance.

do you think fans of stern who will listen to this new dopie and lapdog show will put up with them bashing him? no.

this is really dumb move IMHO. XM is giving away exclusive content and CBS has clearly no idea what to do with sterns absence.

everyone continues to play catch up to howard sterns pace.....
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2006 @ 10:03am

O&A and Stern have been broadcast on the same station before and always bashed each other (KRock NYC), that was fun to listen to. But O&A went to XM because their content was so explicit for FM, and they were constantly being fined. I cant imagine listening to them censored, all the good stuff will be or . This is setup to fail from the get go!
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achacha, 25 Apr 2006 @ 10:10am

it will fail
O&A went against Stern before and lost in every market. Their show thrives on being obscene, so I am not sure CBS will gain any benefit from the censored version. CBS is desparate since Stern left, so desparate they didn't even give David Lee Roth a chance (6 months to do what took Stern years is unreasonable).

It smells of desparation from both XM and CBS.
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Dan, 25 Apr 2006 @ 10:14am

O&A went to satellite because regular radio wouldnt hire them, not because they were 'constantly being fined'. O&A were never on K-Rock, they were on WNEW. Also, O&A are proven draws in radio, they were constantly first among their demo (male 18+) when they were on in NYC.

neverender: what exactly is howard sterns pace? O&A already has a bigger audience on XM then howard does on sirius, and now they are nationally syndicated and allowed to plug XM all day long on the air. how is this bad?
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Ramone, 25 Apr 2006 @ 10:15am

Howard missed the boat
The era of Howard Stern has ended. He was great in the 90's, but he's trailed off to the loony bin. Hoo Hoo, tell em Fred. I'm interested to see what will happen with O&A doing 2 shows in one morning. They'll be a great addition to FREE FM, but XM is paying a high price for advertising by letting them do terrestrial radio. Good luck b-b-b-boys!
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2006 @ 10:23am

O&A are the greatest thing since sliced vagina.

And I agree Howard was funny a long time ago. You need to know when to punch out Maverick.
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doubleh, 25 Apr 2006 @ 10:38am

Re: it will fail
You are quite the uninformed troll are you. O&A and Stern were never head to head on the same medium. They were afternoon drive on terrestrial radio before and #1 in many markets in that slot. Thier show does not thrive on obscenity, far from it. They are talented radio hosts, and they will succeed in this endeavour as always. How does that Stern Koolaid taste by the way?
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finch, 25 Apr 2006 @ 10:58am

Re: it will fail
Obviously you haven't given them a chance. I was at one point a fan of howard sterns show just because I had no idea there was anything this much better than him. After listening to their show a few times, Former Stern fans will be bashing him right a long side O & A. Stern is washed up, he's lost his mind, and is a chore to listen to.
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John Focacci, 25 Apr 2006 @ 11:01am

how will it affect XM listeners
I am wondering why I should keep paying for XM when I can get O&A on free radio. I have listened to the boys from their Boston days, into their days at WNEW and now own several XM units.
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Dan, 25 Apr 2006 @ 11:11am

Re: how will it affect XM listeners
you get at least 2 extra hours of uncensored live O&A on XM, plus XM has promised to run "O&A: The Early Years" since with this deal they aquired all of O&A's archived shows from the WNEW days.

http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=206195
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Kevin, 25 Apr 2006 @ 11:44am

Big mistake for XM and CBS
For all those people out there who subscribe to XM, why would you continue to pay for somthing you can get for free on CBS radio? Opie and Anthony wouldn't even have careers in radio if it wasn't for Howard Stern. And everybody knows that if Howard was still on regular radio he would destroy them in the ratings. I am a Sirius subsciber and i love it. Howard has been awesome since his move to Sirius. How could you listen O&A's show with it being censored and 20 minutes of commercials an hour. Pay the 12 bucks a month for Sirius. It is well worth it!!!
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neverender, 25 Apr 2006 @ 11:46am

hey dan,

where is the link to your stats on this:

"O&A already has a bigger audience on XM then howard does on sirius"

or we just making up stats these days?

how about this one:

sirius signed up 3 million subscribers since Jan.
also, sirius just passed XM in monthly webpage views.

dont worry, ill come find you to rub it in when CBS cans O&A for either low ratings or FCC fines.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2006 @ 11:52am

I wish Opie and Anthony would move to an afternoon slot on Sirius. Then I would have the best of both worlds.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:13pm

FONA
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Howard, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:15pm

Re: If you think this business move is a slap...
/me sits back and waits for the howard stern trolls to see this thread

OK, I see this thread and here's my comment.
You're an idiot.
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Benshog, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:16pm

I listened to Stern in the mid 90's and loved every minute of it. He had some great content back in those days. I tried to give him a chance a couple of years ago but grew tired of the complaining and the constant "they stole that bit from me" rhetoric.

O&A party ROCK!
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Patrice blows, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:25pm

Neverender is clueless
3 million since Jan neverender? That so? Really? Man oh man...you are a dimwit.

Let's be honest here. They may have gotten 1-1.5 million since Jan. Of those 1.5 million(tops), how many signed up just for stern? I would say maybe 10-15% of them. So that's 150,000 tops. Not that many people when you think about it huh? Nothing close to the 15 million that used to listen to stern on free radio.

If stern is so great why did only a tiny portion of his audience follow him to sat. radio? I even heard Howie complaining about how all of you are too cheap to buy sirius. Nice strategy Howie...

This is a awesome move for XM. They must be getting a whole bunch of money, as well as free advertising on some of the largest radio stations in some of the biggest cities. Who knows, when the contract is up, XM might not renew and people will go to XM to find the boys again.

Don't be mad Howie is getting raped all over the place, he is a has-been and the fact that you are being super defensive about it is proof that you know it in your heart.

take your sirius flush it down the toilet and ..... (you boys know the rest)
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SJGMoney, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:29pm

Carlo's take on this couldn't be more wrong if he was trying:

1. How is this a good move for XM? They are losing exclusivity on one of their supposed gems. The entire sales pitch for sattelite radio is exclusinve content. No way they are getting enough money to cover this. XM shareholders will have heads rolling with this move.

2. This move is not a slap at Stern, it's a desperate ploy admitting defeat. The f'd up letting Stern go, they f'd up with his replacements, might as well go for strike 3 by admitting...

3. Their lawsuit against Stern is complete bs. They are now going to allow O&A to do explicitly (plug XM) what they allowed Stern to do implicitly (plug Sirius). How bad do you think their radio division is doing for them to eat crow like this? Sounds like Hollander's (and Moonves) back and job are against the wall.

Think about how they screwed up the most profitable radio gig in history. Think about how they went about deciding on Stern's replacements. Do any of you have an idea of how much audience walked away when Howard did? Ratings show that Roth kept less than 10% of Stern's audience, do you know how impossible that is? I think with people too lazy/stupid to change the station he would have been able to keep more than that, but no.

Bad moves by bad executives. This is a lose-lose deal for XM and CBS.

As for current ratings, there is not an advertiser alive who thinks more people listen to O&A instead of Stern, to suggest that is beyond laughable.
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neverender is clueless, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:36pm

break out the calculator
"As for current ratings, there is not an advertiser alive who thinks more people listen to O&A instead of Stern, to suggest that is beyond laughable." - SJGMONEY

Did ya SJG? Did you really?

Please, wake up son. sirius has what 4 million, xm has over 6.5 million. That gives O&A a good shot at having many many more listeners that Stern...

Don't be mad that stern is playing second fiddle...just get used to it.
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Paul, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:37pm

Everybody who thinks every single person who has joined Sirius since January is a Howard Stern listener is a moron. Ever think it might be, "Hey, Christmas time. I'm gonna buy a Sirius subscription for so and so." So, the stat of saying all 3 million are listening to Stern is ludicrous.
People saying its a bad move because people can get the same thing for free now obviously didn't do much research. There is still 2 extra hours AND its uncensored the whole time. The things they got away with on public radio, while not as good as XM stuff, was still pretty darn good. Granted, they will tone it down a little because some subjects just can't be discussed, but knowing O&A, they'll push it to the limits. Stern may have been the first shock jock, but that doesn't mean everybody who is nowadays is ripping him off. He's old and bitchy these days and completely full of himself. O&A actually include listeners as much as possible. They connect with them on a level Stern doesn't. Stern thinks he's above his listeners, whereas O&A does not. They're also much more creative then Stern these days as well. Stern is just riding on reputation and not trying anymore.

Stern fans are morons for the most part when they think that nobody can be better him simply because he's Stern. O&A offers just as much entertainment as Stern these days. They're much more in sync with their listeners. At this point, i'd say O&A is arguably (keyword) better than Stern. That's better than people on the other side of this debate saying "O&A can't stand a chance against Stern." Whenever you ask those kind of people why, they just respond with bull like "every person who now signs up for sirius, its because of stern." they may not word it that way, but thats what is implied when you give the stat "3 million people have joined since january and are therefore stern listeners." i wonder what kind of numbers we'd get if we count how many people joined xm since o&a went there.
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Dan, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:41pm

neverender:
http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/ny-f4697009apr11,0,3468920.story?coll=ny-features-pri nt

XM has over 6.5 million subscribers, 9 million by the end of the year.
Sirius has over 4 million subscribers, 6 million by the end of the year.

oh, sorry, i forgot, we are using website hits, not real numbers!
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Neverender is ...GOTT(whackbag), 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:41pm

Paul are you nicknamed a famous serial killer from Beantown?
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SJGMoney, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:45pm

Patrice, you lose all credibility right off the top when you make ridiculous statements. Only 150,000 bought Sirius because of Stern? Are you sitting down because you are a definite stroke candidate as evidently not enough blood is getting to your brain. Even XM's dimwitted execs would admit that the majority of new subscribers were due to Stern, probably the inverse of your ludicrous post.
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neverender is lost again..., 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:53pm

stay in the dark neverender...you're fighting a losing battle son.
Hoo Hoo
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2006 @ 12:55pm

huh?
People still listen to radio?
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SJGMoney, 25 Apr 2006 @ 1:00pm

"XM has over 6.5 million subscribers, 9 million by the end of the year.
Sirius has over 4 million subscribers, 6 million by the end of the year. "

Dan, when XM barely makes it to 8 million by the end of the year and their stock is at $10 please remember to come back here and apologize. I'll give you my personal email if you want to send me a formal apology.

If you saw the first quarter subs you would realize that there is now way in hell XM can get to 9 million this year. Impossible without some major "Howard-like" attraction. Got any ideas, I'm sure XM is all ears.
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distrunted, 25 Apr 2006 @ 1:41pm

To all of you
Who cares? Really who cares? Will any of this affect the cost of gasoline or low the current greenhouse affect, or get me to work faster and safer, or pay for my vacation which is long over due, or paint the house, or send my kids to college or end the war, or replace the oil when it is gone or make nuclear energy safe? Who cares? I don't. thank you. Fallnemoons
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It's Over Johnny!, 25 Apr 2006 @ 2:29pm

The End of the Stern Era
This is a bad deal only in the wishes of Howard Stern's diminishing and aging fanbase. The fans are going to get an extra hour (at least) of the show everyday. XM subscribers will get the uncensored feed for the first 3 hours and then two hours of exclusive broadcast. CBS gets content and XM gets plugs. The only loser in this is Stern, because the 90% of his audience who didn't subscribe to Sirius are by definition casual listeners and will LOVE to have an entertaining show to listen to for free and will be more likely to go with XM to hear the dirty stuff should they decide to get satellite. In the meantime, O&A have a LOT of dirt on Howard, and little by little will chip away at his credibility until his old audience will look at him as the washed up hack he is.
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Jim T., 25 Apr 2006 @ 2:37pm

For all those people out there who subscribe to XM, why would you continue to pay for somthing you can get for free on CBS radio?

1. Because we're getting more O&A every day, including an uncensored feed of the first 3 hours.

2. Because 202 isn't the only channel on XM.

3. Because not everybody lives in the 7 cities where O&A is on Free FM.

4. Because we don't parrot everything Stern says.
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Steve from Yellowstone, 25 Apr 2006 @ 3:15pm

Re:
I just want to say I enjoyed neverender post. I think he makes some good .......RAAAAMOOONE, get this idiot a bucket of aids. RAAAAMOOOONE, neverender cries into a cookie monster pillow everynight while taking it in the balloon knot. RAAAAMOOONE, neverender likes donkey sausage.
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neverender bites pillows, 25 Apr 2006 @ 6:08pm

sjg - nice predictions...in your dreams.

Do you even know sirius stock is hovering at 5 bucks while xm is around 23.

Xm stock is projected to increase by 30% while sirius is projected to increase by 8%...check it out moron. Do some reading for facts instead of making them up.
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P Ness, 26 Apr 2006 @ 4:51am

retard
"Do you even know sirius stock is hovering at 5 bucks while xm is around 23"

wow shows you the stupidity of some O&A fans/zombies.

SIRI Market Cap: 6.76B
XMSR Market Cap: 5.73B

stock price means shit asshole. funny how a company with alot less customers is worth a billion more? seems people have a bit more confidence in SIRI huh?

i love O&A, but they need to get over the stern effect, i cannot listen when they spend 30 minutes an hour talking about stern.

at least finally in 6-12 months we will have closure one way or another when the rating come out of arbitron
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Ramone, 26 Apr 2006 @ 3:00pm

Poor Hoo Hoo
When will Hoo hang up that wig its over you loose.
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