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Stern Will Jump To Sirius In 2006
UnanimousCoward writes "Howard Stern announced it on his current radio show, and several feeds including this CNET article are reporting that Stern has signed a multi-million dollar multi-year contract with Sirius Satellite Radio starting in January, 2006. As I've watched technology grow from the time I was listening to Stern in the eighties, I can't wait to hook into a shockjock-timeshifted-podcast..."
Swansong for Stern. I doubt as many of Stern listeners as predicted will plunk down their hard earned cash to listen to him. He is definetly #1 now, but that is sure to disappear once you have to pay to listen.
The "Online" might be wrong, but"rights" are surely involved.
The fact that Stern's show is a major problem for the current nannies in Washington, getting a show on a medium that is subscription only is a big deal. Does it affect my rights? Sure does. My right to listen to what I want to listen to, without government censorship. I don't like Howard Stern, but I like the idea of the government controlling what he can and can't say on the radio a lot less.
The current rush by the government to "protect us" is just another link in the chain of despotism.
Currently they cannot regulate Sirius (or cable). This is actually due to a court decision (Playboy vs US Government).
However, republicans in congress have been saying that profanity/indecency should not be allowed just because it occurs on cable and that the FCC should have the power to regulate cable (this would also apply to satelite radio).
Since the republicans control congress, expect to see "child protection" legislation in the next year or so to give the FCC the power to regulate cable.