Howard Stern Signs New Contract with SiriusXM Radio
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Updated 11:03 a.m. EDT
Howard Stern says he's staying with SiriusXM Radio.
The shock jock announced on Thursday that he has signed a new five-year contract with the satellite radio company.
The deal, which runs through the end of 2015, provides that Sirius XM can now transmit Stern's show to mobile devices. No other terms will be disclosed, the company said.
Stern had been locked for months in stormy negotiations as his original five-year deal, worth $500 million, neared its end just days from now. Sirius and then-rival XM radio merged in 2008.
Earlier this week, he declared in salty terms on his radio show that he would not accept a pay cut if he stayed. But Stern remains the company's biggest marquee name and customer draw among its more than 135 channels of commercial-free music and talk.
"On my first day in satellite radio Sirius had approximately 600,000 subscribers. Today, the two companies have 20 million, and, in my view, we have just scratched the surface of how many people will get on board," Stern, 56, said in a statement.
"Howard forever changed radio and was instrumental in putting Sirius on the map when he first launched on satellite radio," said Mel Karmazin, chief executive officer of Sirius XM. "He is one of the few 'one-name' entertainers in the country and our 20 million subscribers are lucky to have him."
Stern, whose show airs from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. EST Monday through Thursday, left the confines of terrestrial radio in 2005, after hosting a wildly popular show syndicated by a division of CBS Corp.
He frequently sparred with the regulatory FCC during his 25-year run on the public airwaves, often having his morning show bleeped by censors, much to his ire.
"I don't compete on terrestrial radio anymore," Stern said on his first Sirius broadcast in January 2006. "It's so over."