Mel K On O&A: “I Think It Was A Great Deal For Opie & Anthony” When asked yesterday during his company's Q1 earnings call about rival XM Satellite Radio's recent deal to syndicate the Opie & Anthony show deal back to CBS Radio – and whether he’d consider syndicating content back to terrestrial radio – Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin said, “We’re in the business of getting subscribers to satellite radio. The more exclusive content we have that will drive them to subscribe to satellite radio – as compared to shared content – the better for the industry. We like exclusive content. Having that on satellite radio justifies the $12.95 purchase price."
Karmazin called XM's agreement with CBS, “a great deal for Opie & Anthony.”
Karmazin did, however, indicate that Howard Stern’s Sirius show may become available to Sirius subscribers in the future via an Internet stream at Sirius.com and/or HowardStern.com.
Karmazin added, "We have a long way to go. At the end of this year there will be somewhere between 15 and 16 million people subscribing to satellite radio. That’s really a very low number."
