Is the 'Mad Dog' Headed to Sirius XM's Sports Channel?

They have been together for 19 years. Mike and the Mad Dog has been a sports staple for so long it is tough to imagine New York radio without them. There is however rumors circulating that the duo is indeed splitting up, and that Chris Russo may be on his way to Sirius XM Radio (SIRI). According to Newsday, the Fan now confirms that, “we’ve already heard the last of Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, and Neil Best expects Russo to come to earth at Sirius XM.”

Newday’s source at WFAN says that Mike Francesa may have signed a new deal with the terrestrial radio station despite the fact that his contract was not up until 2009. The source says Francesa will go solo in afternoons for now.

Mel Karmazin recently completed a merger between Sirius and XM. During the midst of the merger, some speculation surrounding Don Imus circulated, but Imus wound up staying on terrestrial. Karmazin’s philosophy seems to be that of picking and choosing talent while at the same to keeping costs in line at the merged company. Sirius XM does have some high profile names, but the costs for those names has been high profile as well.

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo has been known for so long as one half of Mike and the Mad Dog that it will be interesting to see how he does on his own. As the more “energetic” side of the duo, he may fit well into the sports mix on satellite radio.

Thanks Bruce.

Disclosure: Long SIRI

Comments

[Edster:]

Tyler this is one long time investor in Sirius stock which now is Sirius XM and your comments are always well appreciated. The newly merged company will survive and prosper under CEO Mel and his highly qualified staff.

2008 Aug 15 09:17 AM

[GotSIRI:]

This is why this company will prosper....

I talked to my buddy back home last night. He bought a new truck and it had Sirius installed and a 1 year subscription included. So he calls to cancel his current subscription and the operator says "would you be interested in keeping it in your home" He tells her his unit doesn't fit a boom box. She offers to send him equipment for his home at no cost, so he says sure. So for what probably cost them about $50, they kept his current subscription and betted on the fact that when the free car subscription expires in a year he will double down.

2008 Aug 15 09:33 AM

[beardawg:]

Why would your buddy cancel a free subscription?

2008 Aug 15 09:37 AM

[GotSIRI:]

He wasnt cancelling a free subscription, he was cancelling his 2 year old subscription because he didnt need anymore it as he now had a free year.

2008 Aug 15 09:39 AM

[User 243850:]

He wanted to cancel his current subscription...not the free one that came with the new truck...i think.

2008 Aug 15 09:45 AM

[killerkaul:]

Hey killa................ I see a whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii... I smell poop.

2008 Aug 15 09:57 AM

[GotSIRI:]

RIght..... it was his current subscription.

So lets take a look. They kept hold of the $155.44 that they would have lost for the next year had he just went with the free year that came with the new car, plus they have him locked in to a receiver in his home now. When the 1 year free on the new vehicle ends, odds are he will add that to his pay subscription. And I know for a fact that he will. So now, they sold a guy who has been a subscriber for 2.5 years (thanks to HS) an extra $6 a month that he previously wouldnt have spent. Raising his monthly price point to ~19, or about 50% increase.

And at what cost? The service to each unit has to be extremely marginal at best. Ifthe equipment they offered had a cost of say $100, they still make $55 off him this year by holding his current subscription he called to cancel, plus the roughly $80 a year they added to his subscription cost per year going forward. If they convert 1M of the 18M current customers, to 2 unit owners/subscribers in the same fashion, thats an added $80m a year in revenue with out 1 additonal buyer. Pretty spectucular.

This is the beauty of having it installed in new vehicles. As more and more current subscribers who love the product buy new cars, that provides a market for additonal unit subscriptions on current subscribers.

2008 Aug 15 10:25 AM

[ARI D K:]

Many people who lease new vehicles and already had a Sirius or XM contract, the can carry and or add the remaining time to the new car. That's another great way Sirius/XM of doing business

2008 Aug 15 11:10 AM

[Sirius Fan:]

It may be interesting to have the "Mad Dog" perhaps do a guest appearance on Scotty Ferral's show prior to his landing at Sirius XM.

That show, I'm sure, would be entertaining to say the least.

2008 Aug 15 11:15 AM

[GotSIRI:]

Scotty and Mad Dog .......Shake it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

2008 Aug 15 11:48 AM

[mgv11:]

i was just thinking about cable tv and how they give away the box... but they still own it! if they took this approach with radios wouldn't this impact the bottomline per GAAP, depreciation vs subsidy. Cash Flow is similar, the difference is what the consumers pay (non oem) So my question is how do they recognize the cost of the subsidized radio?

2008 Aug 15 01:36 PM

[jswede:]

us who think this company is dead in the water have been talking about their massive debt, and the massive interest rates they are paying, since the merger...

now Karmazin comes out today and calls the last debt deal he made "ugly", that he "hated it", and that SiriXM will have to deal with the $1bil in debt that is due in 2009 "sooner rather than latter", and still not a peep about it from the bulls...

rather we get some insignificant little blurb about a talk show host that may be moving over....

anyone want to talk real issues and tell me how they are going to get out from under this debt...?? anyone?

2008 Aug 15 02:30 PM

[boston 1:]

I can not believe the talk on most post; one subscription and we devote a 1k words to it. Mel buys 2M shares and everyone does not even blink. Now insiders have bought over 38M shares this can only state they believe in the company or know something we do not as outsiders that we are. Mel does seem to see things in a very positive way and that is his job. However if any one of us was running the company and we did not believe it could turn up would we invest 2m+ on worthless stock?

2008 Aug 15 04:19 PM

[bobdylanfan:]

Chris is still young enough to go on to other things, but he will be missed on YES saying, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...
GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYBODY!!!!!!

2008 Aug 15 06:55 PM

[I weep for ...:]

Russo only knows baseball and tennis he sucks when it comes to football,boxing, horse racing, hockey, ett..

2008 Aug 15 07:47 PM

[jamesc:]

THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO GIVE STUFF AWAY WITH 3 BILLION IN DEBT, BUT THEY CAN SALE IT AT COST TO GET NEW SUBSCRIBERS AT $9.99 PER RADIO. THIS DOWNTURN IN THE STOCK WAS CAUSED BY EVERYONE TRYING TO SALE THIER SHARES AT ONCE THIER WERE TO MANY SELLERS AND NOT ENOUGH BUYERS. I THINK EVERYONE LISTENED TO CRAMER AND THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO STRIKE IT RICH ONCE THE DEAL WAS APPROVED. THEY NEED TO BUILD INVESTOR CONFIDENCE AND EVENTUALLY THEY WILL DO BETTER.

2008 Aug 16 05:26 PM

[Come on Guy...:]

Everyone just buy a subscription to SIRIUS!

2008 Aug 16 10:23 PM