Art Bell Quits Dark Matter

[retired41]

do both sides of your brain hurt.

[dortmunder]

do both sides of your brain hurt.

My brain has seven sides....they all hurt.

[retired41]

then forget about why it hurts and it won't.

[dortmunder]

then forget about why it hurts and it won't.

Easier said than done.

[retired41]

try holding your breath for 30 sec at a time.

[dortmunder]

try holding your breath for 30 sec at a time.

Think I'll just go have some sausage at the Dortmund Weihnachtsmarkt instead. 

[HumanBeing]

I'll be the first to admit I am not knowledgeable regarding the specifics and law surrounding a non-complete clause.
I guess each NC clause would be tailored specifically depending on the circumstances and maybe SiriusXM stated no podcasts within the NC.
Therefore my following thoughts could be entirely moot. Oh well.

I do not understand how Art would not be able to do a podcast, in the strictest definition of a podcast, and be ok legally regarding the NC.
A podcast where Art interviews a guest without phone calls from an audience and without any advertisements or sponsors, i.e. Art makes zero monies from the podcast.

Art would not be receiving any sort of compensation. Nor would he be in any direct competition with any "radio" programs because the downloadable audio file of the podcast is such that the person listens to the podcast at their own leisure. However, it could be argued that any guest Art would interview may interfere or detract from any radio show who would also have the same guest on within a similar time period.

But why not fight for the right to do a simple podcast instead of Art taking the hard stance that he wants to be able to stream a live show 'x' amount of days per week, during a time period where it would be competing against other radio shows and also receiving possible compensation via adverts or sponsors?

Can anyone go into detail how a podcast, as described above, would go against a NC? (Unless Art signed a NC that included no podcasts) 

It is my fault. I simply have not gotten over this whole debacle yet.
Art was away from radio for years because of a NC with Premiere... he comes back to beat Noory's ass... 6 weeks later he ends up off the airwaves and bound by another NC.......... You just can't make this stuff up 

[retired41]

don't eat to much or you will have a tummy ache.

[CantFindTVRemote]

She strikes me as Margot-Kidder-hiding-in-the-bushes crazy.

But, in her favor, she does  sport a good, quality breast augmentation.

Hey! Boobs will get you far, but I think we're dealing with nice, safe, functional delusion.

[CantFindTVRemote]

I find that a really interesting statement (and one that forces me to question my career choices.)  I am fascinated by general human nuttery, their anger and actions that make absolutely no sense and defy logic (knowing full well that sometimes what I do / say defies all logic as well.)  Perhaps I needed to chose a career where I could be paid for being consistently baffled by human behavior and for my attempts to sort it all out.

But most of those careers involve listening to people and their inane complaints. I prefer co-existing with animals, and watching people walk by in a mall.

[dortmunder]

don't eat to much or you will have a tummy ache.

It's the good kind of tummy ache! 

[CantFindTVRemote]

Isn't this a textbook case of split personality?  Just read 'her' text.

The reply asks if one can help.  Sure - provide a list of some good head docs.

Has to be. I'm not a fan or normal, but this is abnormal in a way where it can become or has become disruptive.

[SixWeekTenure(tm)]

Art would not be receiving any sort of compensation. Nor would he be in any direct competition with any "radio" programs because the downloadable audio file of the podcast is such that the person listens to the podcast at their own leisure.

How do you know he wouldn't receive any compensation? If he treats the Dark Matter Radio Network like any other successful podcast out there, he'll run ads or do live reads throughout the show even if no one other than Bob Crane would be lining up at this point. Art told us that to make up for the 75k/yr compensation he received from Sirius/XM, he read C.Crane ads and received a percentage of sales. The same deal would likely be in place for a web hosted program. We don't know the details of the non-compete, if it was a clause in the overall contract or signed separately - very little is known apart from the expiration date. Still, I don't see how one could argue a show live streaming on the internet (and some kind of on demand download feature with a paywall) should have special treatment of any kind. Art signed the deal last spring and if internet streaming was so important, he should have either signed with Sirius/XM as an independent broadcaster originally or simply streamed from his website from the get go. Logic bomb.     

[Yorkshire pud]

[attachimg=1]

Oh no!! NOT dark roots? You mean not all blonds are natural? Who knew?

[Yorkshire pud]

It's too bad Hal 9000 is no longer here... If he were, we'd all know exactly who she was within a few days of that site going up.

Yeah, but better he isn't here...

http://bellgab.com/index.php?topic=2023.msg106172#msg106172

[HaveAccess]

Spinner:

Howard Hughes show, "The Unexplained" was on DMRN last night.
Excellent show. Too bad it's just one-hour long.

Thanks Spinner... I check the DMRN often, just never caught it...

[DarKPenguiN]

I'll be the first to admit I am not knowledgeable regarding the specifics and law surrounding a non-complete clause.
I guess each NC clause would be tailored specifically depending on the circumstances and maybe SiriusXM stated no podcasts within the NC.
Therefore my following thoughts could be entirely moot. Oh well.

I do not understand how Art would not be able to do a podcast, in the strictest definition of a podcast, and be ok legally regarding the NC.
A podcast where Art interviews a guest without phone calls from an audience and without any advertisements or sponsors, i.e. Art makes zero monies from the podcast.

Art would not be receiving any sort of compensation. Nor would he be in any direct competition with any "radio" programs because the downloadable audio file of the podcast is such that the person listens to the podcast at their own leisure. However, it could be argued that any guest Art would interview may interfere or detract from any radio show who would also have the same guest on within a similar time period.

But why not fight for the right to do a simple podcast instead of Art taking the hard stance that he wants to be able to stream a live show 'x' amount of days per week, during a time period where it would be competing against other radio shows and also receiving possible compensation via adverts or sponsors?

Can anyone go into detail how a podcast, as described above, would go against a NC? (Unless Art signed a NC that included no podcasts) 

It is my fault. I simply have not gotten over this whole debacle yet.
Art was away from radio for years because of a NC with Premiere... he comes back to beat Noory's ass... 6 weeks later he ends up off the airwaves and bound by another NC.......... You just can't make this stuff up 

I am not an Attorney either-

Its my understanding that in many cases you would be correct. The problem is that "Art Bell" himself is a "brand". Sirius bought the rights to the Art bell "brand" thinking it would increase their subscriber base. In this situation , even attaching his name to the Dark matter network could be violating the NC (even if he does not broadcast) since it is easily provable that some of his listener-ship quit sirius (cost them money) and followed him to another project.

He will be considered to be "competing" if he cost Sirius money and then (in any round-a-bout way) collected some of that same money himself. THAT would be direct competition.

-Again, I am not an attorney, so this is all speculation on my part- But, I honestly do not think you will be seeing Art doing much over the next 2 years (and imho , even afterword- but we will see....)

[HumanBeing]

How do you know he wouldn't receive any compensation? If he treats the Dark Matter Radio Network like any other successful podcast out there, he'll run ads or do live reads throughout the show even if no one other than Bob Crane would be lining up at this point. Art told us that to make up for the 75k/yr compensation he received from Sirius/XM, he read C.Crane ads and received a percentage of sales. The same deal would likely be in place for a web hosted program. We don't know the details of the non-compete, if it was a clause in the overall contract or signed separately - very little is known apart from the expiration date. Still, I don't see how one could argue a show live streaming on the internet (and some kind of on demand download feature with a paywall) should have special treatment of any kind. Art signed the deal last spring and if internet streaming was so important, he should have either signed with Sirius/XM as an independent broadcaster originally or simply streamed from his website from the get go. Logic bomb.   

I guess I would not know if Art would receive compensation for a podcast. That is entirely opposite of my proposed premise the podcast would be based upon.

My point was Art creating a podcast where there is zero commercials, zero sponsors and the audio file released via a website/server where there is no banner ads.
It would be just Art talking about some subject or Art talking with a guest.

Like I said, I have zero idea what sort of NC clause Art signed or the legality. It may contain some loophole to actually do a podcast in the form I mentioned where it does not directly compete with any live radio shows because Art is not doing a show live at all. It is prerecorded released at a later date. Also Art would not exactly be 'working' in the sense that he would not receive any remuneration. This would be labelled as a hobby of sorts. No money would exchange hands for any services.

I may be pissing in the wind here. Other than the point that maybe some guests who talk with Art may be closely scheduled to appear on other radio shows and therefore this act is deemed as competing or interference, I do not know.

I do not agree at all with how Art handled this matter. That's my opinion. He can spin it however he wants. He is the one who screwed this up. Lack or foresight or just lack of sight in general. From what I remember he said he didn't even have any lawyers read over the contract, he did it all himself 
So instead of giving up entirely because he can not get what he wants specifically until 21 months from now, why not try to scale back his goals and try seeing if a podcast in a very stripped down raw form would be ok legally.

[HumanBeing]

I am not an Attorney either-

Its my understanding that in many cases you would be correct. The problem is that "Art Bell" himself is a "brand". Sirius bought the rights to the Art bell "brand" thinking it would increase their subscriber base. In this situation , even attaching his name to the Dark matter network could be violating the NC (even if he does not broadcast) since it is easily provable that some of his listener-ship quit sirius (cost them money) and followed him to another project.

He will be considered to be "competing" if he cost Sirius money and then (in any round-a-bout way) collected some of that same money himself. THAT would be direct competition.

-Again, I am not an attorney, so this is all speculation on my part- But, I honestly do not think you will be seeing Art doing much over the next 2 years (and imho , even afterword- but we will see....)

Yeah I think that is a good point because the Dark Matter network, no matter how you slice it, is associated with Art Bell and hosted on his website.

To be honest, I don't think SiriusXM or Premiere is really that worried about Art or threats to their subscriber base or listeners. Even if they were I sincerely doubt there would be any real negligible effect. People would end up listening to both the shows if the topic/guest interested them.

Art solely based his comeback on trying to destroy C2C because he did not like the product which it had become. Ok that's fair enough.
But in taking that stance and attitude he is in turn receiving the same treatment now via C2C's new deal with SiriusXM and possibly them insisting that SiriusXM keeps Art's NC intact. They just want to fuk with him the way he tried to do so towards them. I can understand that from an evil business point of view. But ffs, with all due respect, Art is an old man... give the guy a break. He would not be doing it for that long anyways.

Whether we want to agree on it or not. Art waged war against Premiere and Noory. He voiced his displeasure and grievances publicly. He tried to play hard ball and struck out swinging. If only he had just keep his mouth shut and just did a radio show each night instead of being all dramatic he might very well have been let out of the NC clause. You get back what you put out. I guess that's what they call karma. It is a real damn shame.

[SixWeekTenure(tm)]

I do not agree at all with how Art handled this matter. That's my opinion. He can spin it however he wants. He is the one who screwed this up. Lack or foresight or just lack of sight in general. From what I remember he said he didn't even have any lawyers read over the contract, he did it all himself 
So instead of giving up entirely because he can not get what he wants specifically until 21 months from now, why not try to scale back his goals and try seeing if a podcast in a very stripped down raw form would be ok legally.

I doubt Art wants to do a podcast that features an interview and no calls. If he had, he could have changed the format of Dark Matter on Sirius/XM if he scaled back the show to the contracted three hours and took a Dreamland approach until the stream problems could be resolved. Again, I used the the web player to listen to the previous night's show if I missed it and never had an error - maybe it was a live issue? Whatever the case was, Art won't challenge the non-compete and we'll be left with only a few bright spots on a network where it feels like any hack can be featured if they e-mail Keith and aren't seeking compensation. If they cared about growing it into something worthwhile, you would expect them to vet the programs before putting them on.

[NXOEED]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I always kind of hated the callers. A callerless Art Bell show would be interesting to hear. Not likely, though.

[MV/Liberace!]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I always kind of hated the callers. A callerless Art Bell show would be interesting to hear. Not likely, though.

idunno... i think a lot of people are probably in your camp where hating callers is concerned.

[MV/Liberace!]

It's too bad Hal 9000 is no longer here... If he were, we'd all know exactly who she was within a few days of that site going up.

yeah, i miss the days of him being around here to reveal the personal information of users he disapproved of.  good times.

[Yorkshire pud]

yeah, i miss the days of him being around here to reveal the personal information of users he disapproved of.  good times.

But by a strange coincidence he went out of his way to hide his IP address, and was very secretive about his own identity...strange that. Some said he was a stalker, and a sociopath...I don't know why they'd come to that conclusion.

[ziznak]

i kinda miss hal

[Yorkshire pud]

i kinda miss hal

I know what you mean...I miss my appendix..

[Meanandnasty]

About the non-compete, ideally you want to handle a matter like this without litigation, but first wisely you should extinguish all avenues before you litigate.  I took the NO answer from the management at Sirius, just one step for a solution.  Next, you go higher or bring in attorneys.  I think it is being negotiated, quietly. . Shhhhhhhhhh!

[Imconfused]

i kinda miss hal

miss no more. He's the newest member on BellGabSucks.com

weird

[Meanandnasty]

miss no more. He's the newest member on BellGabSucks.com

weird

The universe works in strange ways.  Now, he will be conducting background searches and web look-ups for the other forum  He was probably brought in on contingency.

[Yorkshire pud]

miss no more. He's the newest member on BellGabSucks.com

weird

I assume the owner didn't ask MV for references? If they're reading this...have a think... you might want to ask MV if HAL is a comfy bed fellow.