Howard Stern just quit

Doh!

like that wasnt expected ?

when is his contract up?

Less censorship there. By moving his audience base to satellite, XM Radio and other outfits may be in for some serious market expansion.

15 months left on contract.

now, does Viacom allow him to stay on the air for that time and try and convert listeners to satellite radio?

wow theres even XM Radio advertisements on sterns site already that was quick he's better off on XM he has more freedom it just sucks cause it's definately going to effect the amount of daily listeners

signed with Sirius Radio.

i thought i had heard him say he was doing that a while back.

Opie and Anthony just returned to the air via XM radio. In a year or so the radio talk air-waves will be all sanitized conservatism. If you want free speech make plans for a monthly subscription

hes spoke of doing this a few times just never happend i guess he's tired of being censored by the assholes at the FCC, good for me though my howard site is getting a lot more traffic didn't even realize it

Sirius Radio stock is up!

Go Howie

does anyone have satellite radio?

---I would imagine that sales and stock will go way up after this...

wow, my daily dose of idiot statements made by people who don't know how our country works.

That's great news

It'll kick ass if he goes to Satellite radio, that way he can do whatever he wants, say whatever he wants, plus people like me that live in the middle of nowhere will be able to hear his show.

PLUS if more people buy Satellite radios, that should help to expand on satellite radio, meaning more stations, better programing, it's a win-win situation.

???

you don't think that the Janet Boob incident created a backlash of conservative monitoring to avoid possible fines?

Who's Hi Pitch, this is Kelly Clarkson.

Almost 30% while XM is down.

He just made a medium.

sweet that guy sucks

howard has never sucked www.howardforpresident.com

...absolutely

i would buy XM stock now today

Ask Bill Maher if he agrees with me...

NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - "Shock jock" Howard Stern will jump to Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in January 2006, moving his controversial show from the public airwaves and giving the nascent satellite radio sector a big boost.

By luring Stern away from his current employer, Viacom Inc.'s (VIAb.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Infinity Broadcasting, the $500 million, five-year deal announced on Wednesday by Stern and Sirius will propel the new business built on attracting subscribers to dozens of radio stations broadcast digitally.

Sirius, whose shares rose about 14 percent to their highest level in more than two years in early trading, gets a boost in its rivalry with its larger competitor XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) .

It also offers Stern a degree of freedom for his often off-color show, which includes such segments as "Lesbian Dial-A-Date," in which he plays matchmaker in a mock game show that has been criticized as being offensive. Stern was dropped earlier this year from several stations.

Sirius currently has more than 600,000 subscribers, a small amount compared to Stern's current audience of 12 million listeners on broadcast radio, where he ranks No. 1 in 46 large markets across the country.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission regulates radio broadcast programs but does not regulate satellite radio programs.

An Infinity spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

Indecency on the airwaves became a national issue in January when Janet Jackson bared a breast during the National Football League's Super Bowl half-time show on CBS, which is also owned by Viacom.

Since then, Clear Channel Communications (CCU.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which kicked Stern off six of its stations, was fined $1.75 million by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to settle all indecency complaints.

In August, XM, which boasts more than 2 million subscribers, signed bawdy morning talk show team "Opie and Anthony" to one of its premium channels beginning this month. The two were fired by Infinity in 2002 after they broadcast a segment on a couple purportedly having sex in a prominent New York City church.

XM charges an additional $1.99 a month on top of its regular $9.99 monthly fee for the service. In contrast, Sirius will make Stern's show part of its $12.95 monthly service, but it said Stern, who will have the opportunity to develop one or two other premium channels for the service.

Sirius said it would need to add 1 million subscribers to cover the cost of the five-year deal. The company estimates total production and operating costs for the show to be about $100 million annually. XM shares fell nearly 3 percent in early trading.

The company is betting its subscriber rolls will rise sharply, but it said it does not expect that to occur until after his show goes on the air in January 2006.

I saw this coming

Good for him, Its good to know my friend matt has a sirius web login for streaming off the net. :D

muahahaha..

Go stern!!

just out of curiosity.. would it be illegal for Howard to buy a few million in SIRI stock the day before he makes an announcement like that? sorry if this is a stock-newb question.

eminem also has a channel coming out on XM this year

good news

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SIRI&t=5d

I beleive thats insider trading, because he's making a move before its officially been announced.

But then again, he doesn't need the stock... lol

500 mil... $$$

Good time to buy SIRI i got it a year ago at .80 its a huge keeper now! up .57 atm 3.92

get it while th gettins good =) XM is at 27.09 SIRI willbe up there as well in a year or so

what exactly is salalite radio? Just stations relayed on the salalite services?

satellite radio = special receiver and original FCC free stations.
Playboy has a station on Sirius or XM.

Monthly fee for basic satellite radio & fee for premium content.

Satellite Radio like Sirius and XM both started as an "in car" digital service.

But now are both offered in homes and available on the internet as well (i believe only with subscription)

Lots of companies are making the Radio decks and systems compatible with Satellite radio.

who didnt see this coming - he's had links to satalite on his site for months

They have 600,000 total subscribers, and are paying him $100 million a year?!?!

Good luck, they are going to need it

They need no such thing. Stern boasts 12 million users, many of which follow him to whatever medium he suggests.

Hardly call that "quitting". Moving on to a new form of a media outlet, but not "quitting"....

The point of getting him is to bring people to that medium.

okay, you think 10% of his listeners are going to shell out $100 for the equipment, and $600 a year so they can listen to him?

How many people paid the $8 to see his movie?

I understand the point - I just don't see 1,000,000 Howard listeners suddenly being willing to fork out a minimum of $3,000 to listen to him for 5 years

i have the playboy channel on XM, however the program is mindless banter.

your post has just reminded me to call and cancel it.

for xm, plan on spending a minimum of $150 to get the head unit, receiver, antenna...

decent xm radios and receivers will run you $250-350 dollars
plus about 10 bucks per month for the service

I do.

And it'll happen too...

Stern fans are loyal.

They just won't forget about him and find someone else to listen to...

They'll get his station, plus the 50+ other stations along with it and it'll become their primary music source...

EDIT:

Because they join, doesn't mean they'll keep it. Maybe their suggesting 1mil inital joins and then maybe 40/50% reoccuring subscriptions...

their in the same ballpark as us...

Some people think that scat doesn't sell , but their are people out there that'll buy a subscription to it to get their fix...

I don't see how much different stern is....

Not a fan of him anyway

Yes, and my guess is MUCH higher percentage will move over than just 10%. Sirius will swell their customers by 2-3 million with Stern moving there is my guess.

FYI Satellite radio is not $600 a year, $9.95 a month.

Okay, my bad . . . for some reason I thought I read $50/mo .. .but after reading again, I am seeing Sirius is only $12.95/mo.

So, how many of those 12 million people will they need to subscribe? Oh yeah. All of them.