Stern Gets Sirius

In an announcement, that some believe is a landmark for all radio, the satellite radio broadcaster Sirius has inked syndicated “shock jock” Howard Stern to a five-year, multi-million-dollar (some say $100 million per year) deal beginning January 1, 2006. Unlike the XM channel given to Opie & Anthony, Stern’s show will be free to Sirius subscribers in a format unconstrained by FCC decency rules. Three Sirius channels will be all Stern all the time with one playing his show in a continuous loop and two others (including a premium extra-charge channel) will provide additonal Stern produced programming.