Source : Ottawa Citizen

Howard Stern is back in Canada -- and this time he's uncensored.

Despite Stern's rocky history with the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council, Sirius Canada is adding the controversial radio personality to its satellite lineup on Feb. 6.

The self-proclaimed "King of All Media" was yanked from Canadian airwaves in the late 1990s after the council ruled that his programming -- which featured rants against women, homosexuals and French Canadians -- breached national broadcasting standards.

Sirius Canada said it expects Stern to continue to push the boundaries of comedy on satellite radio, said Mark Redmond, president and CEO. "Control mechanisms are to be in place to ensure he's only heard by the people who want to hear him," Redmond said.

Stern signed a $500-million U.S. contract with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. in 2004. The company's subscriptions have since spiked from 600,000 to 3.3 million.

While declining to reveal its own subscription numbers, Sirius Canada hopes Stern will have a similar effect north of the border, Redmond said.

Sirius Canada began broadcasting on Dec. 1, but initially did not add Stern to its roster. Redmond said he hopes Stern's show will eliminate "grey market" subscribers -- Canadians who signed up for Sirius through U.S. mailing addresses in order to get an American receiver.

During his U.S. satellite debut on Jan.9, Stern engaged in phone sex with Playboy bunny Heidi Cortez and introduced his new announcer, George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on Star Trek and recently announced he was gay.

Redmond said customers can opt out of the Sirius adult entertainment package that features Stern or use parental controls to block his broadcast.

Stern battled the U.S. Federal Communications Commission during his 25-year run on mainstream radio. But while the FCC doesn't regulate satellite radio, Stern's new show could face scrutiny in Canada.

During Stern's previous stint here, the broadcast council received nearly 1,100 complaints. After the council ruled against Stern's show, radio stations in Montreal and Toronto began censoring the show on tape delay.

Ron Cohen, the council's national chairman, said a broadcaster can be investigated after one public complaint. But Cohen is keeping an open mind about the shock jock's return. "We never assume there's going to be a problem before there's a complaint," he said.

But Stern finds himself with a strange new bedfellow in the CBC, one of Sirius Canadian' partners and provider of six of Sirius's 100 channels.

"It's no secret that Howard Stern's programming isn't consistent with what airs on Radio Canada's airwaves," said Jason MacDonald, a CBC spokesman. "This is a Sirius Canada decision -- one that they feel meets their audience's demands."

© Ottawa Citizen