# XM Gets Oprah For $55M



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

NEW YORK -- Oprah Winfrey has signed a three-year, $55 million deal with XM Satellite Radio to launch a new radio channel beginning in September, Winfrey and XM announced Thursday.

The new channel, "Oprah & Friends," will air programming on fitness, health and self-improvement topics with personalities that appear on Winfrey's TV program, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," as well as in O, The Oprah Magazine...

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## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

Waste of money and bandwidth.


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## Link (Feb 2, 2004)

XM can afford to pay $55 million for such a thing??? Just keep it to regular music categories and keep the cost low.


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## Mr. Furious (Feb 9, 2006)

I think this is an outstanding pickup for XM, and their best other than MLB. The reason is simple. When Oprah speaks, her minions listen. When she tells them to buy a book, they run out and buy it. When she lists her "favorite things," those things go on shopping lists and wish lists all over the country. It isn't hard to figure out what's going to happen when she starts hawking XM?

You have to spend money to make money. The key is to spend it wisely. I think XM is doing so, much moreso than Sirius.


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

Mr. Furious said:


> I think this is an outstanding pickup for XM, and their best other than MLB. The reason is simple. When Oprah speaks, her minions listen. When she tells them to buy a book, they run out and buy it. When she lists her "favorite things," those things go on shopping lists and wish lists all over the country. It isn't hard to figure out what's going to happen when she starts hawking XM?
> 
> You have to spend money to make money. The key is to spend it wisely. I think XM is doing so, much moreso than Sirius.


XM will get a much bigger bang for the buck with this deal than Sirius did with Stern.


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## arundc (Jan 14, 2006)

LtMunst said:


> XM will get a much bigger bang for the buck with this deal than Sirius did with Stern.


Yep, the ROI will pay off better dividends. Stern's antics are getting old. I can't understand why Sirius has to pay such a huge amount to him.

Oprah has so much pull, attracts a wider audience, and makes or breaks what she sells (aka Frey)  . XM is being wise - rates won't go up, it will infact pull in more subscribers thus extending its dominance and this is what makes shareholders happy.


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## Link (Feb 2, 2004)

Yeah that is for sure XM getting Oprah is 100 times better than Howard Stern on Sirius.


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## arundc (Jan 14, 2006)

Here's a link to the deal on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/09/oprah.radio.reut/index.html


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## deraz (Sep 25, 2004)

I don't know about this deal. Oprah is now free on TV for one hour a day. How many viewers are going to pay $12.95/month to hear her for a half hour a week?


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Some 10 million people now pay $13/mo for what they used to get for free. Radio.

The Oprah channel isn't just her - it's her and a bunch of other talk-show personalities that are evidently regulars on her show. I'm no fan of Oprah, but look what a mention on her show does for a BOOK.


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## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

djlong said:


> Some 10 million people now pay $13/mo for what they used to get for free. Radio.


Hardly. That is a little like saying that people now pay $100/mo for what they used to get for free. TV.

Of course the TV you got for free was NBC, ABC, and CBS, and maybe a UHF rerun station. With ghosts, snow and other such. Showing what the Big Three have always shown, crud.

And, of course, the radio you got for free was, in most places, maybe 3 rock stations of varrious supposed themes, one or 2 country stations, NPR, a single AM conservative talk station, and maybe a sport talk or all news station. Hardly comparable to XM.

As to Oprah, the market seems to like the move, and certainly Oprah is 1000000000 times more popular than Stern, but Oprah's crowd is the non-working housewives. They are at home where the TV is, and have little need for the portablilty of radio.


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## Art7220 (Feb 4, 2004)

Oprah will not have exclusive content on her XM channel. I'd be surprised if she appears on it more than a half-hour per week. I can't see Oprah bringing in that many subscribers.

BTW, I'm sure when they announced Oprah, they didn't mention Opie and Anthony. I'm saying this because when Martha Stewart signed onto Sirius, Howard's name was mentioned. Anyone who went to Sirius he was mentioned.

-A-


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

SamC said:


> Waste of money and bandwidth.


if you dont like it dont listen i know i wont listen but i know my mom will love this channel :lol:


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## kenglish (Oct 2, 2004)

Just hope that Sirius Satellite Radio doesn't somehow get on her "list of favorite things"  .


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## luvdtv04 (Aug 20, 2005)

On a per-hour basis, she's making way more than Stern. $55 million for 30 minutes a week for 39 weeks is worse than preposterous.


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

kenglish said:


> Just hope that Sirius Satellite Radio doesn't somehow get on her "list of favorite things"  .


http://orbitcast.com


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

luvdtv04 said:


> On a per-hour basis, she's making way more than Stern. $55 million for 30 minutes a week for 39 weeks is worse than preposterous.


This per hour comparison is meaningless. The bottom line is that Sirius paid $600 million in the hopes of getting a bunch of Stern's fans to sign up. XM paid $55 million in the hopes of getting a healthy share of Oprah's minions. When Oprah tells her flock to get an XM radio and listen to her new channel, they will run to Circuit City in droves.

Again, dollar for dollar, XM's deal is much wiser.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

SamC said:


> but Oprah's crowd is the non-working housewives. They are at home where the TV is, and have little need for the portablilty of radio.


Boy are you missing the point....

These are the women who run their kids around to play dates, soccer practice, drop off the movies at the rental store, drop off the teenager at the mall, pick up the kid from drama, gather the crew for Girl Scouts..

You know - "Mom's Taxi".


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## NiFi (Oct 7, 2005)

Cant stand Oprah, but bottom line is, she carrys spending clout, as someone said, look at what her book club does for best sellers. :eek2: 

Great move by XM, would say it not only negates sirius's Howard move, but surpass's it as well.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Hey NiFi, welcome. I'm right in your area. 

NiFi Electronics is located in the Blasdell/OP area right?


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