 |
fantalkback2talkhosts.myfreeforum.org
A multi-talk-host clearing house...
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Please Register and Login to this forum to stop seeing this advertsing.
|
![]() Posted: Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
TerryGale
On the "Bleep" Button
Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 752
|
 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:57 am Post subject: Canadians and Stern |
 |
|
Canadian Stern fans go grey - Sirius Canada won't carry shock jock - Thousands signing up for U.S. service | Quote: | Jan. 3, 2006. 01:00 AM
GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
When New York shock jock Howard Stern disappeared from Canadian commercial radio in September 1997, Canadian radio operators breathed a sigh of relief.
The CRTC ruling that even the heavily edited version of his live morning show breached domestic broadcast standards accomplished in a single move what the Federal Communications Commission could not in 25 years. That despite millions of dollars in fines against Stern's employer, Infinity Broadcasting, and stations that carried his program, and floods of listener complaints for its over-the-top sexual and racial humour, exploitation of guests, and bigoted, often homophobic and misogynistic commentary.
Canadians might fight for their own cultural icons, but no Canadian broadcaster is going to risk losing a licence over an American. It was thought that the outrageously expensive and troublesome radio star had gone away. He would no longer be a seductive, albeit contentious, ratings powerhouse in this country.
Wrong.
Stern's move from American FM airwaves in mid-December, pending a much publicized debut this coming Monday on Sirius Satellite Radio in the U.S., has suddenly hurled him back onto the Canadian horizon, and he's more contentious and seductive than ever.
Earlier this week, Sirius broke the three-million-subscriber mark, a feat the company attributes to recent sign-ups of Stern fans. That's 800,000 new subscribers since Sept. 30, a revenue gain that drove Sirius stock up by 16 cents to $6.85 a share.
What must rankle the operators of Sirius Canada - Toronto's Standard Radio and CBC, who own an 80 per cent share in the Canadian company, partnered with the New York-based SSR - is that a good number of those new subscribers are Canadians. As many as 80,000, by some estimates, are signing on to the U.S. service via "grey market" U.S. billing addresses just to get American receivers that will pick up Stern. At $14.95 per subscriber per month, and between $70 and $300 per receiver, that's got to hurt.
Fearing the wrath of the CRTC as much Stern's astronomical carriage fee, Sirius Canada's owners - who also own terrestrial radio property that comes under much more rigid scrutiny than it's believed satellite radio will have to endure - have decided not to carry Stern's channels on this side of the border.
It's presumed he'll breach codes established by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, by which all radio operators in this country abide.
The irony is that by denying Canadians access to Stern, Sirius Canada is driving domestic subscribers into the American "grey market," an illegal realm that Canadian satellite applicants promised the CRTC would be shut down upon approval of their licences.
"We're not carrying Stern," Standard Radio chief Gary Slaight told the Star. "That's what we decided and I don't think we'll be changing our minds ... for now.
"Our programming will continue to evolve as we receive feedback," he said, referring to an Internet-based lobby group that has bombarded Sirius Canada with a petition to carry Stern allegedly signed by more than 10,000 of his Canadian fans.
Caught in a serious Catch-22 - whether to risk offending the CRTC, which has already deemed Stern not suitable for Canadian consumption, or to risk losing potential millions in subscription revenue - Slaight says he and the CBC are "concerned over the grey market situation."
"If we don't carry Stern, we're handing his Canadian audience over (to the American company's subscriber base). We're aware of that and we'll be dealing with it as things progress.
"As of now, we have not changed our decision not to carry Howard Stern.
"Then again, we have until Jan. 9."
Stern's shift from terrestrial to satellite radio is controversial in itself. Stern, 51, will trade his "free radio" American audience of 12.2 million for a pay-radio audience of just three million: those willing to part with $12.95 (U.S.) a month for Sirius's 120-channel package of music, news, sports, information, world radio, traffic, weather and talk.
The satellite radio operator has given the lanky, long-haired talk radio prodigy $500 million (U.S.) to build not one, but two channels on its platform. Production costs and salaries come out of Stern's mammoth inducement.
Stern's making the move, he says, in the pursuit of that most fundamental of American constitutional rights, free speech, and he's doing it with the backing of both liberal and conservative cultural observers in the U.S.
They have apparently become convinced that the FCC is too powerful, too wilful and something of a renegade in its relentless campaign to silence Stern.
Suddenly the potty-mouthed rude boy of American radio is a cause célèbre, a media darling. The New York Times Sunday magazine last May published an essay defending Stern by National Public Radio star Ira Glass, the very epitome of heightened cultural sensibilities. Stern has been a guest of honour on every American TV talk show of substance in recent weeks and was profiled at length by Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes. His image sneers from magazine stands across the continent. Billboards announcing his flight to pay-radio loom across the Manhattan skyline.
Whether Stern will be - or can be - as provocative, as imaginative or even interesting in the vast satellite radio universe remains to be seen.
Stay tuned. |
So how are Canadians doing it? Someone from SFN has a clue... Apparently the trick is to make sure you have an US enabled receiver, a US address (to activate with), and supply US Sirius with a mailing address. | Quote: | Not only is it easy to get a subscription from Canada (just use an American address when you call 1-888-601-6297) you can buy an American receiver in Canada on the web... http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog...hp?pcode=SI1000
I bought one yesterday, and added it to my account without a problem.
Some stores still have them in stock.. but they are moving fast. |
Funny that for US residents the "black market" is medications. In Canada, the black market may become radio. Radio free Canada??
Canadians say they also having trouble calling in..
1-888-9AS-SHOL - actual number
1-888-927-7465 - actual numerals
| Quote: | Contacting Howard 100 News
The Howard 100 News Team would like to hear from you. E-mail them with any story ideas related to Howard Stern channels at howard100news@sirius-radio.com . Or, you can call and leave a message with your thoughts at 1-877-33-SIRIUS (1-877-337-4748). Be sure to leave your name and where you're calling (or writing) from when you call or e-mail Sirius. |
http://www.petitiononline.com/sterncan/petition.html
A caller on this topic today gave a link to the petition to help bring Howard Stern to Sirius Canada...
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Join! (free) 
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
