Filed in 2009, the complaint claims the union gave Sirius a monopoly in radio services, one which resulted in higher prices for consumers. Which is interesting, considering the Department of Justice’s comments on the merger when it first approved it.

“After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers.”

Anyway…

An unfortunate turn of events for Sirius, which is likely still reeling from the other high-profile lawsuit it was slapped with earlier this month.

But! Where there’s a will, there’s a way. At least, if you work for Twitter fan Howard Stern, who had Biz Stone on his show this morning.

Stern and his crew seem obsessed with verification, and at the end of a 45-minute interview, Stern convinced Stone to bless one of his pals, too.

Ronnie the Limo Driver will get his badge today, Stone said. As of 4:30 ET, that hasn’t happened, but then again the Twitter team has a lot on its plate right now.

If you do have the time to spare, by the way, the Stern interview is quite good: Stone goes over the basics of Twitter’s history, as well as delivering a good anecdote about not selling the company to Facebook.

But unlike the other press appearances Stone has made, this one goes away from the standard talking points, and Stern gets him to go into his personal history, too. It’s both gossipy and humanizing–the kind of stuff that people love to hear from famous people, but very seldom get.

“When Sirius needed Stern, it promised him a share in any success that the company achieved,” the suit reads. “But now that Sirius has conquered its chief competitor and acquired more than 20 million subscribers, it has reneged on its commitment to Stern, unilaterally deciding that it has paid him enough.”

According to the suit, Sirius did give Stern his initial stock award after he signed on in January 2006, but it failed to pay him out on any others even though it “exceeded its own internal estimates by more than 2 million subscribers” each year for the remainder of the original contract.

“Stern enabled Sirius to surpass its internal subscriber targets by more than 2 million subscribers in 2006 and in 2007,” the suit alleges. “Because of this success and the revenue that it brought into the company, [Stern] was entitled to receive the performance-based stock awards Sirius promised [him].”

So Sirius is stiffing Stern. Not a particularly wise move given the latter’s irascibility and reach of his daily radio show. If there’s a PR battle to be fought here, Sirius will likely lose it first thing tomorrow morning when Stern’s back on the air again.

Reached for comment, Sirius claimed to have met its obligations to Stern. “SIRIUS XM just signed a contract through 2015 with Howard Stern, and he is a valued part of our company,” spokesman Patrick Reilly told me. “We were thus surprised and disappointed by the subsequent legal action initiated by his production company and agent. We have met all of our obligations under the terms of our 2004 agreement with Howard, his agent and production company.”

Here’s a copy of the suit:

SternSuit –

“I’m so over Twitter… it’s too much contact with the fans.”

– Twitter late-bloomer Howard Stern telling his Sirius listeners why he’s already tired of the service after less than a month, via Jim Romenesko. While this may disappoint Twitter executives who were praising Stern’s live-tweeting experiment just a few weeks ago, it’s worth noting that the radio pioneer was still playing with the service this morning, presumably after he had groused about it on-air.

Because Stern has spent the afternoon delivering a scene-by-scene, Tweet-by-Tweet, DVD-style commentary while the movie has been playing on Time Warner’s HBO. It’s an incredibly simple idea, and a surprisingly compelling one: I gave in about 30 minutes ago and have had a hard time doing anything else since.

And while the movie will have ended by the time you read this, my hunch is you’ll be hearing about it for some time.

That’s because the idea of using Twitter to augment TV–particularly live TV–is something that Twitter’s executives have been actively promoting for some time now. Both because people are already doing it on their own, and because they think it will help them capture some of the huge TV ad marketplace, which still dwarves online.

“It’s taken the DVR out of the equation again,” Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said last month. “People feel like they have to watch the show, while it’s going on.”

And Twitter ad sales boss Adam Bain used today’s (spontaneous?) Stern seminar to expand on that message, and  hand out instructions to the TV business.

And I think he’s sort of right. I’m very happy to Twitter away, and read responses, during a certain kind of TV show. Such as a live event like the Oscars–one that I sort of care about, but not so much that I can’t look away for a few minutes.

But I’ve got no interest in twittering during “Justified,” because I really, really like that show. And there aren’t many celebrities whose tweets can get me to watch a show I don’t like.

Still, as I type this, I’m half-watching the last few minutes of a 14-year-old movie I haven’t thought about for a long time. So maybe the Twitter folks are on to something….

UPDATE: Sirius now confirms the deal. It doesn’t offer up any new details except for this one: The company will now have the ability to transmit Stern’s show to mobile devices. Which would make the company’s mobile apps for, say, Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android handsets much more attractive, and that’s a valuable deal point.

Press release:

Howard Stern Signs New Five-Year Contract With SIRIUS XM
Agreement Includes Rights for SIRIUS XM to Transmit Howard Stern’s Programming to Mobile Devices

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Howard Stern and SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) today announced a new five-year agreement. The news was first reported by Howard during his show this morning.

“On my first day in satellite radio SIRIUS had approximately 600,000 subscribers. Today, the two companies have 20 million; and, in my view, we have just scratched the surface of how many people will get on board,” said Howard Stern. “I am especially excited that my show will now be heard through SIRIUS XM on mobile devices. Access to my show on mobile devices will open up additional opportunities for my fans to hear me wherever they are.”

“Howard is a great talent and we are thrilled that he will continue to provoke, engage and entertain on SIRIUS XM. Our agreement is good news on all fronts — it is good for SIRIUS XM subscribers and good for SIRIUS XM stockholders. Howard forever changed radio and was instrumental in putting SIRIUS on the map when he first launched on satellite radio. He is one of the few ‘one-name’ entertainers in the country and our 20 million subscribers are lucky to have him,” said Mel Karmazin, Chief Executive Officer, SIRIUS XM.

The world-renowned Stern is credited with revolutionizing the talk radio format. Known for his large and extremely loyal fan base and for his unequalled ability to migrate fans to other media, Stern has embarked on numerous highly successful ventures over the years. Stern has written two best-selling books — Private Parts, which was Simon & Schuster’s fastest-selling book ever, and Miss America, the fastest-selling book in publishing history. He later starred in the highly successful motion picture adaptation of Private Parts, orchestrated one of the fastest-selling soundtracks in motion picture history and has starred in one of the most watched entertainment pay-per-view special of all time.

Howard’s new contract will run through December 31, 2015. Under the terms of the new contract, SIRIUS XM will now have the right to transmit Howard’s exclusive programming to mobile devices. Additional terms of the contract will not be disclosed.

That should be an easy thing to pull off, particularly if the company manages to renew its deal with Howard Stern, whose contract expires at the end of the year. But it hasn’t done that yet, according to Karmazin. “We had hoped that prior to this call we would have an update on the status of Howard Stern with Sirius XM,” he said this morning. “We do not have any update today, other than to say discussions continue.”

Why? Well, sentiment about the company and its prospects are clearly improving now that it has its finances in order. The unexpected increase in subscriber growth the company recently reported is obviously helping as well. Also presumably fueling the rally is increasing confidence that Howard Stern will stick with Sirius, rather than bail for terrestrial radio when his contract expires next year. Beyond that, I’m not entirely sure.

In any event, it seems there’s no longer a need for a reverse stock split to push Sirius above the $1 per share minimum for Nasdaq trading.

“There’s not a better job on the planet than judging that f—ing karaoke contest,” Stern said, the site reports. “It might be possible, we’ll see,” he said, adding: “They’d have to pay me a ton of dough because I already make a ton of dough.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The New York Post reports that the producers of American Idol are eager to hire Stern for the show. The Page Six item says that Stern is the show’s top choice to take over from Cowell, who will leave the show at the end of the current season. Stern’s current contract with Sirius XM (SIRI) expires in January 2011.

An excerpt from the Post:

A source connected to “Idol” said, “It’s one of the few shows that could compete with Stern’s $100 million-a-year Sirius contract, and ‘Idol’ bosses think he’d be even nastier than Simon.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

At a roundtable event this morning at The Paley Center for Media, Sirius (SIRI) CEO Mel Karmazin was asked that very question. Does he worry about Stern leaving for an outfit–like Pandora–looking to avail itself of the same “Stern Effect” that spiked Sirius’s subscriber rolls?

Karmazin acknowledged that while it’s a possibility, he’s dubious. “I think it’s great to be content today,” he said. “In this world of fragmentation, great content prevails. Howard Stern is great content. Howard would be sought after by anyone. He’s a great talent. Having said that, we would like him to stay with us and we are optimistic that he will continue to do so.”

It’s worth noting that Karmazin, while he does view Internet radio as a competitor, doesn’t seem too worried by it. “There are a lot of choices for audio content,” he remarked. “And obviously, the Internet is one of them. But the question is who’s going to the the largest player? And I think that’s our spot to lose. I believe we will be the most profitable of audio content choices.”

Further Notes From the Event

On Amazon’s Kindle:
I am addicted to my Kindle. I saw Jeff Bezos in Sun Valley recently [and] I told him I have personally bought a dozen to give as gifts.

On Comcast/NBC Universal:
I dont’ see anything anticompetitive about what Comcast is doing–the review should take a few weeks. Either you accept the fact that there’s a lot of competition out there, or you don’t….But I do think this thing is going to drag out like it did for us. So far there are only two congressional hearings on Comcast/NBC. We had four–there were fewer for the Exxon Valdez.

On In-Car Internet and the Apple iPod:
I think the Internet will absolutely be in the car and we think it will be a good competitor. You know we’ve been competing with iPods for a long time. And we look at how sat radio performs in the vehicles where people have the ability to put an iPod jack in and we don’t see much of a difference. We believe them to be complementary.

Stern said today that he has been approached by several “regular” radio execs about returning to his original turf when his five-year $500 million contract with Sirius XM (SIRI) expires.

“I actually have an offer,” Stern said, according to a report on The Wrap. “Well, not a bona fide offer, but people have been making them.”

Stern’s remarks today follow a public call-and-response negotiation with Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin that began last fall. “It will start with Howard feeling that he is working too hard and doing too many shows and not making enough money,” Karmazin told attendees of the Reuters Media Summit in November. “Our side would say, ‘We want you to do more, and get less money.’ The hope would be that we would come out with Howard staying with our service.”

Stern, of course, is angling for the exact opposite. “I don’t think I’m going to be re-signing. I know exactly what I want to do here,” he said last year, referring to a less busy schedule. “And I don’t know if it would interest [Sirius.]“

Given the size of Stern’s audience and the availability of much of Sirius’s other content on the Internet, my guess is that it would.

“I don’t think I’m going to be re-signing,” said morning-show host Howard Stern on the air last month. “I know exactly what I want to do here,” he said, in terms of a less time-consuming schedule, “and I don’t know if it would interest them,” meaning his bosses. That leaves open the question of what Mr. Stern will do once his contract with Sirius expires at the end of next year. Pre-negotiating posturing is already well under way.

On the same show where he questioned his prospects, Mr. Stern pronounced his current gig on satellite “the best job in radio I’ve ever had.” But it could also be true that he is angling for a change.

Mr. Stern signed up with Sirius in late 2004, but he didn’t join the company until 15 months later.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The Open Book Alliance formally launched the manifesto this past week with which it’s challenging Google’s settlement with authors and publishers. The organization now has a Web site and quite an array of allies–which include, of course, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and Amazon (AMZN). And as if Google doesn’t have enough on its plate, turns out that all along, Microsoft has been holding regular “Screw Google” meetings, the bastards. Uh, I thought that’s what people pay good money to learn in Business School. On a happier note, Howard Stern fans everywhere were happy to learn that Sirius XM (SIRI) has debuted a device that can turn an iPhone or iPod touch into a full-fledged satellite radio.

Over in Personal Technology, Walt reviewed Snow Leopard and found it to be an improvement on its predecessor, but with a lot of the upgrades under the hood invisible to most users. Not the typical object of desire we’re trained to expect out of Apple. In Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walt answers reader email about choosing a vendor to buy a computer online and setting parental controls in Firefox. In The Mossberg Solution, Katie Boehret explores the trials and tribulations of BlackBerry and iPhone users switching one for the other.

More next week.

The Open Book Alliance formally launched the manifesto this past week with which it’s challenging Google’s settlement with authors and publishers. The organization now has a Web site and quite an array of allies–which include, of course, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and Amazon (AMZN). And as if Google doesn’t have enough on its plate, turns out that all along, Microsoft has been holding regular “Screw Google” meetings, the bastards. Uh, I thought that’s what people pay good money to learn in Business School. On a happier note, Howard Stern fans everywhere were happy to learn that Sirius XM (SIRI) has debuted a device that can turn an iPhone or iPod touch into a full-fledged satellite radio.

Over in Personal Technology, Walt reviewed Snow Leopard and found it to be an improvement on its predecessor, but with a lot of the upgrades under the hood invisible to most users. Not the typical object of desire we’re trained to expect out of Apple. In Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walt answers reader email about choosing a vendor to buy a computer online and setting parental controls in Firefox. In The Mossberg Solution, Katie Boehret explores the trials and tribulations of BlackBerry and iPhone users switching one for the other.

More next week.