Sirius: STOP Pirating Howard
Yeah...that will work. In a "shocking" statement from Sirius, cease-and-desist letters have been sent out to onli
ne pirates, hearhoward100.com and hearhoward.org in a move to try and stop the "king of all media" from being heard for free. After his satellite debut on January 9th, pirate radio stations around NY as well as other major markets began to retransmit the Sirius program on terrestrial (free) radio. I can't imagine who was more thrilled, Sirius (by losing potential consumers) or the FCC (with Stern uncensored roaming on the FM dial). Pirating Howard is nothing new, it has been occurring for years. However, the issue is about dollars and cents now. With Sirius costing consumers $13 a month, if their is a free alternative, people will flock to it. There is little doubt Sirius will do everything in their power to eliminate the free transmission of Howard Stern's program with as much as $500 million invested in him. Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly said, "We don't condone the stealing of Howard's show, or any of the content on our more than 125 channels. We vigorously protect our intellectual property rights and we will actively prosecute those who attempt to steal it."
TheStreet.com put the scenario best: if water fountains started spraying free Coca-Cola. In that case, who’d want to part with four quarters for a bottle of Coke?
ne pirates, hearhoward100.com and hearhoward.org in a move to try and stop the "king of all media" from being heard for free. After his satellite debut on January 9th, pirate radio stations around NY as well as other major markets began to retransmit the Sirius program on terrestrial (free) radio. I can't imagine who was more thrilled, Sirius (by losing potential consumers) or the FCC (with Stern uncensored roaming on the FM dial). Pirating Howard is nothing new, it has been occurring for years. However, the issue is about dollars and cents now. With Sirius costing consumers $13 a month, if their is a free alternative, people will flock to it. There is little doubt Sirius will do everything in their power to eliminate the free transmission of Howard Stern's program with as much as $500 million invested in him. Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly said, "We don't condone the stealing of Howard's show, or any of the content on our more than 125 channels. We vigorously protect our intellectual property rights and we will actively prosecute those who attempt to steal it." TheStreet.com put the scenario best: if water fountains started spraying free Coca-Cola. In that case, who’d want to part with four quarters for a bottle of Coke?
