If Howard Stern really is the King of All Media, let's just hope that his castle comes on wheels. The rowdy celebrity, already in the process of migrating his popular radio show from terrestrial radio to the more liberating environs of satellite radio come January, is now also switching television networks.
Where his TV show lands remains to be seen, but the final new show on E! will air next month. Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), which owns a majority stake in E!, stands to suffer from the move, since Stern's televised show was the network's top draw. E! is likely to air reruns for a long time, though, and the cable channel has more than 2,000 Stern shows in its library. However, there is no way that it will be able to maintain its former stellar ratings while it airs dated content.
Irony may make a surprise guest appearance here. The most logical new resting place for Stern's television show would be the male-targeted Spike TV. So where's the irony? Well, Spike is owned by Viacom (NYSE: VIA), the same company that will be losing Stern on the radio when he leaves for Sirius (Nasdaq: SIRI). As a young network, Spike TV could really use Stern's presence.
No matter where he winds up on the small screen, it's unlikely to have an impact on his move to satellite radio, even though the outcome of that move remains the bigger mystery. The morning program's racy content has led to its being pulled in many radio markets, and we still don't know how many displaced fans will be running to buy Sirius satellite receivers later this year to make sure they can once again placate their Stern craving.
It won't be the 10 million-plus listeners whom he has been drawing through free, conventional radio. Some can't pay -- or won't pay -- for satellite radio. It's a shame, because like satellite television, once you taste the expanded content, there is no going back to the rabbit-ear antennas of traditional broadcast TV. Yet many will make the move alongside Stern. Many more who don't have radio access to Stern now are likely to check him out.
With a market cap of $8 billion, Sirius is going to need to prove me right if its stock wants to keep heading higher. That first quarter of 2006 is going to be telling. Will Sirius pull in more new subscribers then, and in the upcoming holiday quarter, than rival XM (Nasdaq: XMSR) will? It could happen. If you asked Stern, I'm guessing he'd say there's no way it could not happen.
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz thinks it's cool that Sirius broadcasts The Motley Fool Radio Show four times over the weekend. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story.The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
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