Howard Stern hastily arranged a news conference in New York today after the New York Post published a claim that CBS Radio was filing suit against him. Stern said CBS accused him of reaching a "secret agreement" with his new employer, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., even though he disclosed it to CBS executives and discussed his intentions to move to Sirius on the air.

Stern also disputed CBS's claim that he caused them financial damages by discussing satellite radio on the air, saying it was a legitimate story about the media and helped lead to high ratings for his show and sold-out advertising time.

Stern and his lawyers indicated that no lawsuit had been filed yet.

CBS declined to make any comment.

[ABC News] 

Reality TV star Jack Osbourne and pro skater Mike V will host Hostile Takeover on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Faction (Ch 28), during which they will choose the music played, and talk about whatever they want.

Currently starring in the reality TV series Adrenaline Junkie, 20-year-old Jack Osbourne made his name on the popular MTV series The Osbournes.

Mike V (Vallely) is a pro skater for nearly 20 years and has participated in the first-ever skate demo on Chinese soil.

We've been long awaiting these new channels from SIRIUS, and GSI was told that "there will be some surprises..." so we're frothing at the mouth with speculation.

So far we know Fox News and Fox News Talk are coming, as well as Blue Collar Comedy, Cosmopolitan Radio and of course Playboy Radio. Yet, as GSI points out, we haven't heard much about Radio China in a while. Interesting.

Here's the break down of channel numbers:

• Fox News - SIRIUS Ch 131
• Fox News Talk - SIRIUS Ch 145
• COSMO Radio - SIRIUS Ch 111
• Playboy Radio - SIRIUS Ch 198
• Blue Collar Comedy - SIRIUS Ch 103

Bloomberg Radio, SIRIUS Right, WSM and SIRIUS Stars will be moving as a result.

[Get Sirius Info]

Read an interesting article today in the globeandmail about bringing mobile video over to the land of upright Mounties. Apparently XM Canada told analysts yesterday that XM Radio (the US version) is in the process of introducing video-equipped receivers that may eventually drive a significant portion of the industry's revenue. Meanwhile Sirius Canada CEO Mark Redmond said their own technology is aimed at the "backseat viewers" such as children who want to watch music videos in cars. "It's probably late 2006 at best," Redmond said.

Now, we know the upcoming Samsung Helix and Pioneer Inno will be supporting JPEG video for clip playback, but no other signs of a PVP (Portable Video Player) have reared their head lately.

Last month, our heads were swimming with thoughts mobile video delivered via satellite radio network, but nothing concrete. There was the C&C Air (watch video) that mentioned support for XM or SIRIUS when introduced in the US later this year, but that seemed more like a PSP competitor that simply might support satellite radio.

Then there was this blog post by On2 Technologies CEO Doug McIntyre hinting towards an On2 VP7 enabled portable video device. There it clearly says that the video content is downloaded via the XM Satellite network. Also Doug talks about scheduling of video content:

"You don’t even have to do anything, the device can automatically download schedules content, kind of like a TiVo. When you wake up in the morning all of your new shows, news, etc. is ready to go with you out the door."

Very interesting stuff. Further inquires to On2 pretty much led to a deadend (I can post the email exchange, but it really wasn't all that fruitful). Was the post a misguided reference to the Inno and/or Helix? Doubtful, but possible. And I don't think he was confusing the Helix/Inno with the in-vehicle video shown at CES 2006 - so there may be a mystery XM PVP device in the horizon.

And then there's SIRIUS. Not only are they looking into the backseat kind of mobile video (coincidence that music videos were mentioned?) but the last reports we heard they were on-track for a mid-2006 release of SIRIUS' own Portable Video Player. 

With all the hubbub speculation about what "fun new products" Apple will announce next week, and how we're all secretly praying the Touchscreen Video iPod (fake Photochop pictured above) could one day be real - one has to wonder how far behind are XM and SIRIUS? Every year we're heard about satellite video at every CES, so this is something they have been thinking on for quite sometime. Will we finally see it all come to fruition soon?

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will be launching Court TV Morning Radio, a weekday call-in radio news program hosted by Court TV News' Vinnie Politan, debuting on March 20th, weekdays 6am-9am on Court TV Radio, SIRIUS Channel 110.

Court TV Morning Radio, will provide a preview to the day's court coverage, carried throughout the day on SIRIUS' Court TV Radio channel. The show will feature the legal "take" on the big news, sports, and entertainment stories of the morning, as well as going behind the headlines with in-depth coverage related to crime, justice and the legal system.

Utilizing all of the network's resources, including reports from its widely popular Smoking Gun website (thesmokinggun.com), the show also has unparalleled access to the most important players on the bench and bar. Open phone lines and listener polls are expected to create opportunities for lively debate centering on breaking legal news from the entertainment and political worlds.
 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio just announced a new long term agreement to carry FOX News and FOX News Talk channels beginning March 14th.

The previous agreement between FOX and SIRIUS expired at the end of 2005. FOX News, which has more viewers than all other cable news networks combined, now rejoins SIRIUS' broad lineup of news and information at channel 131. FOX News Talk channel, which offers news, analysis, listener call-ins, and commentary from popular FOX News personalities such as Bill O'Reilly, Tony Snow, John Gibson and Alan Colmes, among others, will air on channel 145.

One of the biggest requests from subscribers is the ability to listen to Howard Stern online. This is something that SIRIUS and Howard would like to do, but the barrier to entry is essentially bandwidth/backbone concerns. Citing the huge online event of Yahoo streaming Howard's last day on terrestrial radio - the concern is that the load will be more than expected. "We're not going to do it until we get the technical issues worked out" to ensure the best consumer experience as possible.

SIRIUS would like to do it, intially, with no increase in cost. And if/when they do this, there will be no incremental cost to having to pay Howard as a result.

Questions about a possible subscription price increase are still up in the air, but as we just heard on the conference call:

"There is a significant opportunity for Sirius to raise the price," Mel Karmazin.