For the first time in five years, there was no Humble and Fred show on SiriusXM Canada's Canada Laughs channel this morning. SiriusXM chose not to renew Humble and Fred's contract.
No reason was given, but I have my theories. It's unlikely due to budgetary reasons as the licensing fee was very small with Humble and Fred generating their revenue by selling advertising. Also, it's worth noting, Humble and Fred offered to waive this small fee and pay for the sole SiriusXM employee who works the daily two hour shift. SiriusXM still took a pass. Did SiriusXM have concerns about the content? Did they want more control over the show (and the hosts)? They're not saying, but both are possibly true.
Regardless, Humble and Fred are moving on with a new distribution deal that will be announced shortly. Funny 820 out of Hamilton will carry them live from 7am to 9am which means many listeners will be able to tune them in on terrestrial radio and others will be able to stream the show live without having to pay for a subscription.
And of course, at its core, the show is a podcast. The wonderful thing about podcasts is that the heartbeat is open source and the distribution channel cannot be controlled by a media company. You can choose not to renew a contract and to cancel a show, but to paraphrase Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on The Simpsons, you cannot kill a podcast.
The Humble and Fred show on SiriusXM is dead. Long live the Humble and Fred show.
