Source : Globe & Mail

As Sirius Canada Inc. begins broadcasting controversial shock jock Howard Stern on satellite radio today, the company and its owners are steering clear of a high-profile marketing campaign.

In stark contrast to U.S.-based Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., which blocked off New York streets and spent millions on billboards to promote Mr. Stern over the past year, the Canadian debut is being rolled out in low-key fashion.

Though a major ad campaign could occur in the coming days and weeks, little has been done in advance.

As of yesterday, the home page of Sirius Canada's website only made a vague reference to the launch, not mentioning Mr. Stern by his name.

Despite the $500-million (U.S.) price tag New York-based Sirius Satellite Radio is paying to broadcast the show over five years, there are concerns about the reaction in Canada, where the program could draw fire from federal broadcast regulators.

The company's owners, which include CBC and Standard Radio, who both hold a 40-per-cent stake, and New York-based Sirius, which owns the remaining 20 per cent, have had mixed reactions to the decision.

"We have expressed some reservations about the programming," CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald said. "But this is a business decision on the part of Sirius Canada."

Mr. Stern is a radio juggernaut, drawing bigger audiences and advertising dollars than any other on-air personality in the industry.

He also has been accused of bigotry, misogyny and homophobic slurs on air and was slapped with more than $2-million (U.S.) in fines in his past career on conventional radio.

"We came to the conclusion that [Mr. Stern] is a powerful force in the entertainment business and we thought that it was important to add him to our lineup," said Sirius Canada chief executive officer Mark Redmond.

In bringing the show to Canada, the owners now find themselves juggling a highly lucrative asset that also has the potential to be one of their biggest public relations headaches.

Though Mr. Stern's show began on U.S. satellite radio Jan. 9, the Canadian operation held back its launch for nearly a month. Mr. Redmond said the delay was to ensure Sirius Canada had an opt-out service in place where customers who don't want mature content can block out the signals to their receivers.

After announcing the Canadian launch last week, Sirius Canada barely promoted the show on its homepage and has yet to launch its ad campaign. In contrast, Stern's image features prominently in all of the company's U.S. marketing, where satellite radio is not subject to U.S. federal broadcast regulations.

Complaints are already being launched in Canada.

Toronto-based activist Valerie Smith, who opposed Mr. Stern's show when it was on conventional radio in Ontario until 2001, accused Sirius and its owners of endorsing "extremely abusive programming" in a letter to the companies.

Mr. Redmond said the ability for Sirius Canada customers to block channels is a compromise between fans who want access to mature content and those who don't. Sirius took its time on the launch to ensure those measures were in place, he added.

The month-long delay may have cost the company listeners though. Some fans in Canada have been downloading the broadcasts from file-sharing sites that have prompted a lawsuit from Sirius in the United States.

Since Sirius Canada is privately held and doesn't report its subscriber numbers, the impact of adding Mr. Stern on the company is difficult to gauge.

Mr. Redmond wouldn't say how many new subscribers the company expects the new program to draw.

In the United States, Sirius had fewer than 700,000 customers before it announced the $500-million deal with Mr. Stern in late 2004 to cover his salary and production costs over five years.
At the end of 2005, its subscriber base had grown to 3.3 million, with the company attributing much of that to the show.

"It's clear based on those numbers that Howard has contributed greatly to our growth. You just have to look at the before and after picture," said Jim Collins, a vice-president at Sirius in New York.

Taking stock of a shock jock

The launch of Howard Stern's talk show on Sirius Canada Inc.'s satellite radio service today leaves its owners, including CBC and Standard Radio, in a tough spot. The legendary New York shock jock is the most lucrative name in radio, but he's also the biggest lightning rod for controversy.

The upside

There is no bigger name in North American Radio than Stern. While at CBS radio, he amassed an audience of 12 million listeners and attracted $100-million (U.S.) in advertising revenue.
His move to Sirius is estimated to have added more than a million subscribers in a two-year span. Despite paying $500-million for the show over five years, the company figures it will make $50-million from him. Sirius Canada is hoping the Stern name will drive similar growth in Canada.

The downside

Stern set a record for fines with $2-million (U.S) worth of sanctions for offensive conduct on air. In Canada, a barrage of listener complaints in 2001 drove him from conventional FM radio in Toronto. Though satellite radio is not regulated as heavily in the United States, Canadian operators must abide by the same rules as conventional radio, which could land Sirius in hot water, along with CBC and Standard as owners.

The launch

Though Sirius has promoted Stern's show heavily in the United States, the Canadian launch is more subdued, with little advance hype. That picture differs from New York, where Stern held an outdoor press conference that stopped traffic after his deal with Sirius was announced. Sirius has also launched a major billboard campaign in the United States.

© Globe & Mail