by Brian “Newman” Rayl
Opie & Anthony have finally come to an agreement with Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI). Coming down to the final hour, Opie & Anthony signed a two-year deal with Sirius XM. Opie & Anthony broke the news live on the air this morning. The exact details of the contract were not disclosed, but they apparently are getting paid “about the same” as they were from their original XM contract.
Apparently, Opie & Anthony wanted more than money. They wanted a larger studio size for instance, and voiced their disappointment and frustration with not getting all of what they wanted. When comparing how they were treated by XM to how they are now being treated by Sirius XM, Opie said, “They made us really happy at XM with a lot of extra things.”
There was some confusion yesterday when Anthony posted “We signed” in the show’s PalTalk room and then Opie followed by tweeting, “NOT signed anything as I tweet this,” as reported by Orbitcast. It was explained on the air this morning that Anthony had signed first yesterday, but Opie didn’t finalize and sign his contract with Sirius XM until early this morning.
This is great news for Opie & Anthony fans, as they will still get their dose of the duo in the mornings for at least the next two years. With Opie & Anthony’s contract negotiation now resolved, it’s on to Howard Stern’s contract. Will Sirius XM’s Deal with Stern be for only two years as well? Stay tuned.
Disclosure: Long SIRI
Contact the author: Newman@SatelliteRadioPlayground.com
Thrilled the show is back, but I’m disgusted because the penny pinching obvious means they are working to get Howard even more than the $100M/year his last contract paid him, likely for even less work.
I’m not in denial that Howard has the bigger audience. But O&A’s are far more passionate and Sirius stood to lose tens of thousands of subs if they didn’t reup (if there was an ounce of honesty in that company, they’d reveal just how many customer service calls they took from angry O&A fans threatening to cancel if they were let go).
It’s also amazing how O&A do a great job for the company, but get punished because:
1. 99% of the other programming is garbage and easily replaceable
2. New deals need to be lowballed in order to please Howard, even though his hardcore fans will admit the show is a shell of its former self despite the lack of content restrictions
I am psyched that O&A signed and I applaud how Sirius handled this contrary to what tryaluckystrike says. Good business is getting the best deal you can regardless of what side of the negotiatiing table you are on. And why again is it considered dishonest if they dont discuss the number of angry O&A fans that call in? You seem like a silly fanboy.
My opinion is there is no correlation between Sirius getting the best deal they can sign from the boys – to Sterns future deal. IF anyone knows how Mel runs a business he is cheap and looks for the lowest possible deal he can get talent signed.
Howard will get less for sure and less time. I am a Howard fan also (full disclosure), but trust that Mel will get as low a deal as possible from the biggest rainmaker at Sirius. Remember Mel didnt sign Howard at Sirius previosly.
while i agree with your statement about business is about getting the best deal; i do not (as the paying customer) agree in this instance. the deal is not going to be passed onto us the paying customers. o&a will get less money and/or less benefits and the show will be affected negatively like it was this morning and again at 10am. meanwhile, sirius will charge me more money for “music royalties” more money for “internet listening” which was free previously. drop o&a from directv lineup, then xm all-together, and now commercials can be heard on music channels. something they promised to NEVER do.
Great news finally but thanks for leaving us in suspense Sirius didn’t listen today but it seems that all this nonsense cost Sirius Jimmy Norton who is moving to LA now? Great work geniuses you lose one of the funniest comedians in the business and piss off O&A to save a few bucks.
The O and A show is the only reason I consider XM an AMAZING bargain. Without this show, for me, XM would be an amazing rip off.
since the merger Xm/sirius sucks, They rather pay harpo and Martha Stewart, rosie, etc than pay the bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbboys what their worth,
and every weekend the turn off the Trucker channel 171,, why? Because Truckers are the biggest audience, trying to force us to become sirius subscribers, They NEVER answer e-mails and when you call you speck to a call center in some foreign country.
and now the even play commercials on the commercial free music channels, IF IT WASN”T FOR OPIE ANTHONY AND LIL JIMMY NORTON I WOULD CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION THROW MY XM UNIT OUT THE WINDOW, BEEN A XM SUBSCRIBER SINCE 09/10/11