fantalkback2talkhosts.myfreeforum.org

Pirate J · Guest

Ahoy Mateys!

Pirate Stern's stuff and ye might walk the plank - Sirius-ly!

http://www.angelfire.com/nj2/piratejim/

Viking Kitty · Faithful Listener Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 206

I'm confused about this... A friend at work said that some of the Sirius transmitters that can be attached to play through the car/home radio were actually strong enough to be picked up by a neighbor's radio. Is that what were talking about = or is someone hijacking a radio station's signal to send Howard's show to a larger area? If the latter is the case, how?
_________________
Viking Cats endless loop

TerryGale · On the "Bleep" Button Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 752

Stern, then Howard 100 News went to some trouble to explain this Friday. It's probably not the Sirius tuners people attach to their car or home radios. Apparently there's other stuff that people who have the technical know-how can buy at Radio Shack to soup the Sirius tuner's transmission powers up. Stern "fans" who pirate this way could be doing him a disservice if the FCC were to try to use this to get the foothold into "controlling satellite." The question was raised as to who is financially liable for 'obscene' material being transmitted this way.

I wonder if Canadians can be caught listening to Stern this way. If they bought their equipment in the US, registered it in the US, but have a tuner that transmits over the next-door neighbor's radio - might the neighbor report them for listening to Stern?
_________________

Welcome back!! Thanks for your posts!!

DeliDilly · Faithful Listener Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 113

Stern Sirius about silencing Web stream
By Jesse Noyes
Friday, January 20, 2006 - Updated: 04:48 PM EST

Howard Stern might have a new bone to pick now that he's moved his risque show to Sirius Satellite Radio.

And this time it isn't with the Federal Communications Commission.

The King of All Media is fighting some feisty subjects who don't want to pay to hear the popular shock jock.

Sirius and Stern's production company, One Twelve Inc., fired off a cease-and-desist letter to at least one Web site that was rebroadcasting the radio host's show - billed the "Show" - as an audio stream.

The letter, which was e-mailed to the administrators of www.hearhoward.org and www.hearhoward100.com, called the online broadcasts "blatant" and "willful infringements," and threatened lawsuits unless the audio streams were immediately removed.

But a Boston area man who says he is the administrator of www.hearhoward.org said he didn't consider streaming Stern over the Internet theft.

"We're not making any money off of it. We're not selling it," the administrator said, adding that he was a subscriber to Sirius. "I don't think that they should be charging someone to listen to their service, especially . . . people who don't have the access to the service."

The man, who asked not to be identified by name, provided Internet registration data that appeared to verify him as administrator of the site.

A Sirius spokesman called the audio streams online piracy and said the company would do "whatever it takes" to enforce its copyrights. "I think Howard, like us, would appreciate people paying for his show," said Patrick Reilly of Sirius.

Offering audio online could be a sign of early rebellion from some Stern fans dismayed by the controversial figure's move to subscription based radio. Stern's show was broadcast on 104.1 WBCN-FM in Boston before the jock jumped to satellite earlier this month.

Sirius downplayed the issue yesterday. "We're seeing an enthusiastic response from Stern?s fans," Reilly said, adding the company added over 2 million subscribers last year.

http://business.bostonherald.com/...?articleid=122152&format=text
_________________
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, pending pilfering prosecution...

DeliDilly · Faithful Listener Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 113

Pesky pirate pilfering promises popular prince promotion. OK, I know they call him the "King of all media," but Satellite was supposed to be a demotion.

http://www.latimes.com/business/l...6585.story?coll=la-home-headlines

From the Los Angeles Times

Sirius Shock: Pirates Hit Howard Stern Show

By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Times Staff Writer

February 2, 2006

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., which liberated radio shock jock Howard Stern from the federal decency standards that he felt had shackled him, is finding that freedom's just another word for $500 million to lose.

Since Jan. 9, when Stern debuted on Sirius, pirated versions of the shows have been made available for free via several online file-sharing networks just hours after Stern signs off. The New York-based broadcaster signed Stern to a five-year, half-billion-dollar contract in 2004.

Now, Sirius is, in a word, furious. "We don't condone the stealing of Howard's show, or any of the content on our more than 125 channels," Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly said. "We vigorously protect our intellectual property rights and we will actively prosecute those who attempt to steal it."

It is not known how many Stern fans are sidestepping Sirius' $12.95-a-month subscription fee by illegally downloading his show. Because most hard-core fans are used to listening to the show in their cars, presumably many of them would subscribe rather than wait until they're in front of a computer screen.

And there is no question that Stern has been good for Sirius, which added 1.1 million subscribers in the last quarter of 2005. The company, which is behind industry leader XM Satellite Radio, reports 3.3 million listeners and expects to reach 6 million by the end of the year.

But ever since Stern traded the terrestrial airwaves for satellite, fans of his frequent interviews with porn stars have found ways to tune in to the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" for free.

A few weeks ago, when the first pirate radio stations began rebroadcasting Stern's show on unclaimed radio frequencies in New York and New Jersey, Sirius immediately notified the enforcement bureau of the Federal Communications Commission - the very body against which Stern has so frequently railed. The FCC in 2004 cited Stern's show on Clear Channel for "repeated graphic and explicit sexual descriptions."

Sirius also moved quickly to crack down on websites that streamed audio broadcasts of the Stern show. The broadcaster sent cease-and-desist letters protesting such "blatant and willful infringements" and threatening to sue unless the underground broadcasters immediately went silent.

But as each one shut down, it seemed, another sprang up.

Stern referred requests for an interview to Sirius on Wednesday. But he has raised the piracy issue on his show with a subtlety that is not his usual forte. Walking a very fine line, Stern has praised the renegade spirit that drives some fans to refuse to pay for what they used to get for free and he has pleaded with folks to just pay "42 cents a day."

Just as the rock band Metallica experienced when it first came out against illegal downloads of its music, Stern risks sparking a backlash. After all, this is the man who built his in-your-face persona around flogging federal regulators, who he claimed were the enemies of creative expression.

There already are signs that after dishing out such criticism for so long, Stern better get ready to take it.

"Mr. Freedom of Speech himself. Mr. $500,000,000 has ordered me to shut down my PERSONAL Web site that some people stumbled upon," wrote the operator of http://www.hearhoward.org , according to the Rocky Mountain News. The site made Stern's show available for free but with a disclaimer that only Sirius subscribers should use it.

BayTSP, a Los Gatos, Calif., firm that monitors online piracy for the entertainment industry, found digital audio files of every episode of Stern's Sirius show on every major file-sharing network.

"It's going to impact the Sirius radio subscribers," said Mark Ishikawa, BayTSP's chief executive. "Why would you pay $13 a month when you can get what you want from the Internet?"

Although no one can know the total number of Stern stealers, it is clear that Stern is a runaway hit among file sharers. His shows are more popular than the TV show "Gilmore Girls" and just behind Fox's "The Simpsons," said Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, an online media measurement firm in Los Angeles.

The proliferation of sites offering Stern's shows for free is an unintended result of Sirius' consumer-friendly technology. Home adapter kits, designed so customers can plug their Sirius radio tuners into home stereo systems, can just as easily be connected to a computer. There, anyone with the right piece of software can convert the show to a digital audio file that can be redistributed online.

Sirius warned investors about the threat of piracy in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It noted that although it uses encryption to foil those who would try to listen to its broadcasts without paying, those protections might not always prevent theft. If such bootlegging became widespread, "it could harm our business," the company acknowledged.

But a little unauthorized exposure might not be all bad for Stern, whose curly-haired mug recently graced the cover of Esquire and New York magazines.

Industry analysts say people who hear Stern's show on their computer might enjoy it so much, they'll end up subscribing. Without the illegal downloads, it could be argued, Stern runs the risk of being out of earshot, out of mind.

"My view is that the more exposure, the better," said Jeff Pollack, CEO of Pollack Media Group. "If I find content very compelling, I might say, 'Wow, I sure want to be able to catch that every day.' "

But then again, Pollack said with a laugh, "I wasn't the one who signed the check."

The folks who sign the checks - and will do so for the foreseeable future - aren't laughing.

"Pirated broadcasts are a lousy way to listen to Howard," Sirius' Reilly said. "The best way is through a Sirius subscription."

Some longtime Stern fans agree.

"When it comes down to it, if you're a true Howard fan, you want to support his endeavor," said Pokai Liao of Irvine, a Sirius subscriber. "If you want him around for five years, you're gonna pay the $12.95."

_________________
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, pending pilfering prosecution...