Howard Stern is hiring comics and working on his two new channels for Sirius Satellite Radio. He’s already selected a name for the channels but has not revealed those, so says the New York Post, which also reports Stern is hinting he may still work for parent company Viacom after he makes the move next January.
The New York Times, meanwhile, reports Sirius is using some of the $600 million in cash it has on hand to get Stern to agree to switch. According to the Times, Stern will make more than he does now.
Sirius estimates that Stern would need to generate approximately one million subscribers in order to cover the costs of the deal. Total production and operating costs for the Stern show, including compensation of the show cast and staff, overhead, construction costs for a dedicated studio, and a budget for the development of additional programming and marketing concepts, is estimated to be approximately $100 million per year.
Sirius is hoping the five-year deal greatly accelerates its subscribership growth and maintains Stern’s 18-49 male audience matches its target demo.
“When you look at his enormous existing fan base, all we need is for Howard to bring in a small fraction of his weekly audience for this agreement to pay for itself,” said Sirius President/CEO Joe Clayton.
Stern Begins Working on New Gig
Stern Begins Working on New Gig
