It seems that everytime a lawmaker comes out in opposition of the Sirius-XM merger, they have some level of financial motivation. First there was Arizona's Mike Hubbard, who ended up owning his own radio station, and now it turns out that Senator Herb Kohl has his own financial stake in a terrestrial radio endeavor.
See, Senator Kohl owns the Milwaukee Bucks - here's the public disclosure (PDF). Now normally that's all fine and dandy.
But it turns out that the Milwaukee Bucks have worked out a deal with WTMJ-AM (620) to sell advertising for when their games air.
Previously the Bucks and WTMJ shared that revenue, but with the 2007-2008 season, the Milwaukee Bucks will assume full responsibility for all their broadcast advertising sales.
In short, Senator Kohl directly earns revenue from Bucks broadcasts on WTMJ.
Connect the dots.
Sirius is the exclusive satellite radio broadcaster of the NBA. If XM and Sirius merge, then XM's 8 million subscribers can have access to these NBA games. And a this could put the amount of revenue that Senator Kohl and his company can generate, at risk.
Conflict of interest? You tell me.
[via Yahoo! Finance Sirius message board]
Thanks Brandon!
they play basketball in milwaukee? tee hee!
they play basketball in milwaukee? tee hee!
Great Catch! You should testify. It seems that political corruption has struck again. I don't know why some politicians can't abstain if they have a conflict of interest. Everyone should write their Senator and the Rules and Regulations Senate Committee.
This is really a stretch, Ryan.
First off, if he's getting the revenue from the ads, can't he sell them with the explanation that they will not only reach the WTMJ audience, but in fact millions more on satellite? If anything, I'd think it would motivate him to SUPPORT the merger, as the ads he sells get heard by more people.
Secondly, how many of those 8 million subscribers are Bucks fans, AND within the WTMJ listening area, AND going to choose to listen on satellite? Heck, as a dual sub, I almost always listen to the Rockies on KOA, because it's easier. I listen to Cubs games on XM because it's easier. Does anyone have historical Bucks broadcast rating so we can see if they took a hit when Sirius' 6 million subs got access to the broadcasts. My bet would be no impact.
Bottom line (and sorry for going on so long) is that Sen. Kohl is a rich guy, and the merger is not going to impact him financially in any meaningful way. There are good reasons for opposing and supporting the merger, let's discuss those in a rational way, without silly conspiricy mongering.
said it once say it again. Even with all these scum bags being exposed, nothing really can be done. No one getting fired, no one going to jail, nothing is changing. If it did...somone else would just take there place and continue to fuck the system. They are all in bed with each other...
Boy Roadrunner new to political game? It isn't all about the direct money that the Senator benefits. How do you think he gets elected? Support right... maybe from a local radio business. He might not be concerned about his personal wealth just his companies personal wealth the Bucks and wealth of the partnership of the radio station. This only highlights the problem with politics today.
Beyond that... the entire argument for this merger is to say that Sirius and XM do not only compete with each other but a larger pool of competitors, Terr Radio, Internet Radio. Here is a person to sit in judgement that is directly affected by the Merger. Big or Small it is a conflict of interest and he needs to abstain.
Heres some additional information Roadrunner... if Sirius scrubs out commercials in the middle of games like XM does for college football or baseball than you are not able to add the satellite market into your advertising figures of what you can charge the customer. The merger will bring a larger audience possibly listening to the Bucks (doesn't mean they will have the ability to listen to the commerical). But at the same point you will have your displaced fans able to listen to their team from anywhere across the US and Canada. What do you think is more important the revenue or people listening?
I believe Senator Kohl spends his own money on his campaigns and takes no outside contributions. He is also very popular, so I don't think he is worried about losing support. Maybe he truly believes the merger is a bad idea. I know I'm skeptical.
first off, if he has ties in any way to a terestrial radio station, he is tainted and could be receiving campaign money from the NAB. ... but conspericy theroys aside.
Revenues of all radios stations are falling due to increased compition from much more than just Sat Rad. I would imagine that anyone would oppose anything that would make one of their competitors stronger.
Besides XM/Sirius could be profitable and be a major lobyist and recording company completly changing the musical landscape. Terestrial is shaking in their laofers.
However... for the record.. I am against the merger. I just hate the back handed BS.
Sen. Kohl is a VERY, VERY rich man. He does not need money from the NAB or the Sat Radio companies - he has plenty. How much money do we really think he makes off of the Buck's radio broadcasts? Aren't most ties with sports teams a break - even proposition at best and really the value is bringing people to the station for other day parts?
I agree with RoadRunner 100% - and do not believe that the Senator's motives are financial - that is not to say that his motives that are based on the public good, just that when you are that rich, a few bucks to your radio station is not something you risk your career over.
Did you guys know that Mozilla Firefox 2.0 has a built in spellcheck? Just a thought.
For those defending Sen. Kohl if he was such a good man and could care less because he is such a rich man he should abstain because of his conflict of interst. IT IS a conflict of interest just as it would be if he owned stock in satellite or a store that sold sat radios.
Sports teams have not been a break-even business since networks started shelling out billion dollar deals to televise the games and salary caps. Just about every pro-sports team makes money including the Bucks.
he makes money from sirius when they sign those checks to the nba.he makes money from those radios that get sold in his stores.i can see where he is comming from. that radio station pays nothing to get those games and kohl gets all the money.
For those that don't understand the broadcast radio business -- sports team networks can be a very profitable venture. Most professional sports teams create networks. These networks hire everything from the play-by-play broadcasters, to the engineers, to ad sales. They sell advertising on them and sell the broadcast rights to radio stations.
In the Milwaukee Bucks situation, Kohl does have a network known as the Bucks Radio Network. There are currently 23 radio stations that PAY the Network for broadcast rights of the games -- as well as associated programming. These Networks are typically owned by the sports team outright -- or in some cases as partnerships with a major broadcast company... in this case, Journal Broadcasting.
http://www.nba.com/bucks/features/BucksRadioNetwork.html
Sports teams networks make LOTS of money. They make money on the advertising as well as selling of the rights to radio stations.
FWIW, Sen. Kohl has traditionally been pro-NAB and pro-terrestrial radio/TV for many years. His stand against the merger should be of no surprise. His own Senate web site demonstrates how he monitors cable/satellite TV... him coming out against this merger should have been expected:
http://kohl.senate.gov/pri_cons_tv.html
And yes, taking hard stands against cable/satellite TV/radio IS in his best interest -- as rights to TV/Radio broadcasts of Bucks games are sold by his Network/Team... with profits definately benefiting him.
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I guess my point was not that there was no way that Sen. Kohl could have been influenced by his own financial interest, just that it is not obvious that he's opposing the merger in order to serve his own interests. It is possible for someone to oppose the merger for legitimate reasons. There are folks on this board who think the merger is a bad idea. Not because they stand to lose money, or because they think Herb Kohl might lose money, but because they think it will lead to loss of unique (and non-lame) programming. I think it makes more sense to look at the specific objections the senator makes, and address those, rather than some supposed conflict of interest.
As a dual-sub, I'm one of the people that Mel has promised will save money. Does that give me a conflict of interest if I support the merger? We're all fans of SDARS. Does that mean we all have a conflict of interests?
P.S. Mike Hubbard is from Alabama, not Arizona. (I know those A states all sound the same...LOL)
First there was Arizona's Mike Hubbard, who ended up owning his own radio station,
I know you meant Alabama. Speaking of this issue how did the Alabama State Senate vote on the slimeball's resolution?
Senator Kohl has been a very quiet Democrat pretty much staying in the background. He's just playing at being a senator.
He doesn't do any real senator work like proposing legislation. You would certainly remember a bill called Kohl's Law. (hint if needed: Think thinly shredded cabbage.)
So Ryan, let me get this straight, here - you're saying: Senator Kohl was appointed as Head of the Senate Judiciary Anti-Trust Sub-Committee.
Sen. Kohl publicly discloses his ownership of the Milwaukee Bucks (which it seems as if he bought with his own money just to keep them in his state), just as he's supposed to.
But you think he's trying to block a satellite monopoly because his home state team got the right to try to sell it's own ads on a local Milwaukee AM station, and as a result, some portion of that revenue might go to him?
That's his evil intent? He wants to stop a merger, because he's looking forward to his portion of all that money the AM basketball broadcast advertising is going to have rolling in? That makes sense to you?
Even though he funded his own campaign completely with his own money, so he would not have to take outside contributions...?
Are you kidding me? It isn't as if he hid his ownership.
I believe he opposes the merger because it's bad for the consumer. As a satellite subscriber, I think he's right. It's not good for me, or you, the subscribers. It won't even be good for the stockholders. So who is it good for?
It's not good for any one company to have complete control over an industry. Especially one that can broadcast news, talk shows, and theoretically influence the opinions of millions of listeners.
I believe Senator Kohl is a smart man, and recognizes this, and is why he opposes the merger.
But you should probably let the Senate Judiciary Committee know about their error in judgement before this goes any further.
Agree with the "Anonymous Coward" before me. This is a good example of where the "appearance" of a conflict is raised simply by partisans of the merger.
I consult for the NAB, and more than a few times I've been attacked as defending our position on the merger, sometimes by those who regrettably view our position as indefensible. And yet here is an argument against a merger critic that seeks to destroy Kohl's reputation because Orbitcast cannot challenge his argument.
Not just a weak argument, but a weak argument that shows how desperate merger supporters really are.
Walt, you're an asshole...