While the remainder of details are confidential, the fact that SIRIUS Satellite Radio now has the rights to 'Classic Stern' shows is undoubtedly the headline winner. This morning, SIRIUS issued an 8-K providing some more details to the settlement:

The lawsuit brought by CBS Radio Inc. against us along with Howard Stern and others referenced in Item 3 of our 2005 Annual Report on Form 10-K has been settled. As part of the settlement, CBS Radio is conveying its rights in the recordings of the Howard Stern Show that aired on CBS Radio from 1985 through 2005. We will have the right to use those recordings as part of our Howard Stern channels through December 2010. We are making a total payment of $2 million to CBS Radio. This is the only payment we will make under the settlement agreement.

Great deal for SIRIUS, not just because they get two decades worth of programming, but also since this is the only public information about the settlement. They definitely walk away the winner here.

Satellite Standard Group is reporting that as part of the CBS Radio / Howard Stern suit settlement, SIRIUS Satellite Radio has agreed to pay $2,000,000 for the rights to replay the Howard Stern Show.

No other details are available at this time, and SSG did not list a source for this information.

UPDATE: FMQB confirms and adds some color to this.

A settlement has been reached in the CBS Radio breach of contract lawsuit against Howard Stern, according to an official in the court clerk's office in New York - but both sides said no agreement had been signed.

"The only response we're authorized to give you is the settlement agreement is not yet signed. We will release a statement when it is," said the office of Peter Parcher, lawyer for Stern.

"A settlement agreement has not been signed. When it is signed, we will make an announcement," said a spokesman for CBS.

Two weeks ago, we learned the two sides were close to settling. Then last week, Judge Ira Gammerman postponed a hearing to give more time for a settlement.

[Washington Post]
[Reuters]

Yesterday's CBS Radio vs. Howard Stern breach of contract hearing has been postponed until next week, a clerk for New York state court Judge Ira Gammerman told reporters. This delay suggests that both parties have not yet reached an agreement, but are still in talks over a possible settlement.

The hearing was postponed until May 24.

At a hearing last week, a CBS lawyer told the court the two sides were close to settling the suit, in which CBS is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for breach of contract, fraud, unjust enrichment and misuse of CBS broadcast time.

[Reuters] 

Lawyers on both sides of the CBS Radio/Howard Stern breach of contract lawsuit have indicated that they are close to a settlement.

CBS lawyer Irvin Nathan told Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman, "We have an agreement, but there are details that have to be worked out," addeing that they were "very close" to a settlement.

Stern's lawyer, Peter Parcher, confirmed Nathan's report but refused to elaborate.

If they do not come to an agreement, both will return to the courtroom next week.

[Billboard] 

Bridge Ratings has traditionally been showing very positive trend numbers for SIRIUS Satellite Radio over the past few quarters, and rightfully so as SIRIUS has done an absolutely incredible job of adding new subscribers - much of that is due to Howard Stern.

The question on many people's minds, investor's and industry watchers alike, is whether this growth is sustainable. Sure, no one expects the hoards of people to continue signing up at the rate they were doing in Q4 and Q1, but exactly how much influence does Stern have for a long-term effect? Bridge attempts to answer this.

Bridge Ratings estimates that a total of 8.4% of Stern's terrestrial audience (not a small amount mind you - that's 1.1 million listerners) have made the move to satellite radio. For the remaining listeners though, Bridge noted that there's "an apparent apathy for future subscriptions" and that The Stern Effect seen during their satellite radio trends from 4Q05 through 1Q06, "has virtually stalled."

Bridge Ratings asked 3,200 Stern listeners 18+ between April 1 and May 8, "why haven't you yet subscribed to Sirius satellite radio?", these are their responses:

Bridge Ratings is also projecting that over the last ten weeks 1,142,312 additional satellite radio subscriptions have occurred at the retail level and that since early April, the retail subscriptions have swung in favor of XM after being dominated by SIRIUS.

I'm curious to see if this continues (or changes) as new devices, from both XM and SIRIUS, are unveiled in the coming months and as preparations for the 2006 Holiday season begin.

Bridge has more metrics about retail awareness and consumer preferences, you can check them out here. 

So speculates the New York Post, based on a few misquoted segments from the Howard Stern Show. Here's the quote from the Post:

"The joke could be on them if I get good and worked up [because] I got offered a major deal to go back to terrestrial and stay on satellite at the same time," Stern told his Sirius listeners.

Of course, the Post is (as usual) only leading to an inaccurate conclusion because Stern continues to say, "but I won't do it."

Mel Karmazin, as recently as last week, stated wholeheartedly that they intend to keep Stern exclusive on SIRIUS. And considering the investment they've made, that sounds pretty logical. This is simply the New York Post doing what they do best.  

[NY Post]
Thanks Glenn!

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that they have plans to stream The Howard Stern Show via the Internet to SIRIUS subscribers by Father’s Day. This will be a momentous day when this occurs, because many fans have been frustrated by the lack of an online stream. Even back in the 'terrestrial days' Howard was never streamed online. Cubicle rats rejoice!

Inside Radio had a bit of spin based on the recent Winter Arbitrons:

Katz researcher Maggie Hauck says “Howard Stern listeners have stuck with terrestrial radio despite all the hype.” From the first batch of Winter Arbitrons it appears “the Stern audience poured out all over the terrestrial radio dial” — scattered among other stations — but “the Persons Using Radio levels barely budged.” So Americans (at least n the biggest markets) didn’t run to Sirius to catch their idol. [...] What Katz is saying is that the total audience — the PUR — didn’t shrink in this Winter book (so far).

I'm not the only one who found this funny, as Radio Marketing Nexus found some curious discrepencies with this. See, apparently Katz forgot that Satellite Radio listenership is now recorded and as a result SIRIUS listeners are counted towards Persons Using Radio. So there definitely was no "signficant loss" because Stern's listeners just moved from one row to another. In fact, Arbitron told the Nexus that almost 4% of the NY MSA diarykeepers reported listening to Satellite Radio in the Winter book.

Hmmmm... so that didn't work. What about those not listening to satellite? The audience that "poured out all over the terrestrial radio dial" as it's so colorfully stated?

This from Nexus' inside source on the NY numbers:

Let’s look at 25-44 men (Howard’s core demo) in morning drive. [The AQH] figure is off 3% book-to-book and 9% this Winter compared to last Winter!