Satellite radio investors seem to like the idea of Stern becoming a judge on American Idol. His fans seem to like the idea as well. After all, this will bring more exposure to Stern, and by extension, to satellite radio. It would seem to make all of the sense in the world that this is potentially great news, right?

Well, the exposure would help satellite radio gain some “free” publicity, but in my mind this deal would have been better a year or two ago. As many already know, Howard is in the last year of his contract with Sirius XM. As any business man will tell you, you want to increase your market value as much as possible prior to negotiating a contract. Thus, the American Idol speculation brings added value to the Stern brand, as well as his negotiating power.

If Howard is a success on American Idol, it would be a gig that would pay him handsomely. Perhaps it would even pay him enough to make that his main form of employment. Being a judge on American Idol would increase the amount of leverage he has at the negotiating table with Sirius XM. Even the speculation serves that same purpose. Yes, it would bring exposure to Sirius XM. Perhaps the added exposure will even be enough to make it in Sirius XM’s best interest to try their hardest to keep The King of All Media on board. The risk however is all with Sirius XM. If Howard were to cut a deal with Idol, he is in the drivers seat when it comes to a potential contract with Sirius XM.

Stern is in a win/win situation:

1. If he wants to slow down, the Idol job will allow him to do just that while at the same time keeping his bank account healthy.

2. If he has no intention of signing with Idol, the mere speculation will increase his value at the table as he negotiates with Sirius XM.

3. If he really wants to cash in, he can do both Idol and Sirius XM.

Over the years, there have been many who question the relevance of Howard Stern. He has passionate fans, and people who passionately hate him. Those that say he is not relevant really need to wake up and look at what is happening. He is indeed relevant. He is relevant because his name gets attached to rumor after rumor. He is relevant because even those that hate him make him relevant by expressing their opinion about him.

Whether or not Howard Stern re-signs with Sirius XM will be some of the key speculation this year. Losing their flagship personality to Idol would not be the end of the world for Sirius XM. Losing hin to Idol and having him still conduct a radio show or podcast elsewhere could be bad news. Stern’s very relevance makes keeping him important. It is just a question of the cost to get the deal done, and the value Sirius XM can get out of the deal. Any other year than a contract year, this American Idol news would be a coup for satellite radio. This year, it is a mixed bag, and a wild card.

Renewing Howard’s contract has always been a priority for Sirius XM and he was always going to command top dollar. The idol news simply solidifies his position. I would watch for Howard to shoot for fewer radio broadcast days, and perhaps even work towards a three day show schedule with other Howard 100/101 programming and perhaps new morning shows filling in on the off days. As with anything that Howard Stern does…he is in the drivers seat.

Position: Long Sirius XM Radio

I have always been a huge advocate for free trials to new customers so, it will come as no surprise that I think this is great news BUT… why do people buying a used car get a 3 month trial while new BlackBerry application users only get 7 days? I am sure some over-thinker has crunched the numbers but, you can’t in one breath tell us that you have a hugely diverse lineup of programming and then in the next breath tell us we only have 7 days to get a taste of it all!

Ford will continue to offer Sirius as a factory installed feature with a 6 month subscription of Sirius included on most new Ford and Lincoln Mercury vehicles.

The best news? The new Sirius XM BlackBerry application will come with a free 7 day trial for new users. Do I wish it was 30 days? One has to wonder if it will be tough to get a real taste of the breadth all this programming in such a short amount of time.

The worst news? Once again, Howard Stern will not be on the BlackBerry mobile app. This comes as no surprise as The Howard Stern Show was a glaring omission on the Sirius XM iPhone application…sigh.

The future seems to be looking up for the Sirius XM mobile offerings and I am hopeful that they are ready to take this mobile thing a little more seriously. They now have a dedicated Sirius XM mobile page up… now that it is, lets make sure we add Windows, Palm, and Android support like Pandora.

Once again Sirius XM announced today that it will broadcast Super Bowl XLIV in 10 languages, across 14 different live broadcasts plus live talk programming from South Florida throughout Super Bowl Week.

Starting Monday, SIRIUS NFL Radio (ch.124) will broadcast live every day from Radio Row at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center with the latest news and analysis leading up to the big game, plus dozens of interviews with players, coaches, league executives and celebrities.

NFL Radio will also broadcast live from Sun Life Stadium on Media Day, Tuesday 10 am – 1pm ET, offering one on one interviews with players and coaches from both the Colts and Saints.

On Saturday 4 pm ET, NFL Radio will provide live coverage as the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 is announced. Listeners will hear the live announcement as well as one on one interviews with the newly elected Hall of Famers.

If you are unlucky enough to not be planted in front of an HDTV on Super Bowl Sunday, Sirius XM will air an expanded lineup of live play-by-play broadcasts from Sun Life Stadium in South Florida. The 14 different game calls will be available to Sirius and XM subscribers with the “Best of Sirius” programming package as follows;

• Indianapolis Colts broadcast – SIRIUS 123 / XM 102
• New Orleans Saints broadcast – SIRIUS 125 / XM 103
• National Radio broadcast – SIRIUS 124 / XM 124
• BBC Radio broadcast – SIRIUS 130 / XM 104
• Spanish language broadcast – SIRIUS 91 / XM 105
• Spanish broadcast (Canal + Spain) – SIRIUS 155 / XM 106
• Russian broadcast (NTV Plus) – SIRIUS 154 / XM 107
• French broadcast (W9) – SIRIUS 157 / XM 108
• Japanese broadcast (NHK Japan) – SIRIUS 158 / XM 109
• German broadcast (ARD) – SIRIUS 127 / XM 110
• Italian broadcast (RAI) – SIRIUS 122 / XM 111
• Hungarian broadcast (Sport1) – SIRIUS 90 / XM 112
• Dutch broadcast (Prime Sport) – SIRIUS 152 / XM 113
• Danish broadcast (Viasat) – SIRIUS 126 / XM 114

Visit sirius.com/superbowl or xmradio.com/superbowl for the full run down on Super Bowl coverage.

Karmazin attributes the recent upturn to what he says are “Improvements in automotive sales, conversion rates and better than anticipated self-pay churn suggest that the outlook for the auto sector and the effects of the economy on our business are beginning to improve.”

Another promising number is 2.2%, the increase in the conversion rate to a self-pay subscription from a trial included in the sale of a vehicle in Q4 2009 (46.4%) from Q4 2008 (44.2%). The fact that this percentage is still a little less then a coin toss is still troubling to me. I can’t imagine anyone listening to this service for a few months and not wanting to stick with it. If Sirius XM wants to improve moving forward, they need to get feedback from these non converting trials and figure out exactly what is holding them back.

“We expect to meet our guidance and report over $400 million in pro forma adjusted operating income, an improvement of over $500 million from the pro forma adjusted operating income for 2008, and an improvement of nearly $1 billion from the pro forma adjusted operating income for 2007, the last full year prior to the merger of SIRIUS and XM,” said David Frear, Chief Financial Officer, SIRIUS XM.

It should be noted that the company’s self-pay subscriber base increased by 247,182 in the fourth quarter to 15,703,932 subscribers, while total paid and unpaid trials included in the sale of a vehicle remained level with the prior quarter and the prior year at approximately 3.6 million.

Starting December 21st you will be able to hear the 3rd installment of the History of Howard Stern on Howard 100 and Howard 101 on the Sirius dial. The History of Howard Stern: Act III, exclusive radio documentary series offers listeners a rare behind-the-scenes look at the life, career and achievements of Howard Stern.

Act III takes an in-depth look at the era when Howard is crowned “The King of All Media.” Pivotal moments of Howard’s life and career covered in Act III include the publication of his bestselling books Private Parts and Miss America, the launch of the E! show, Howard’s run for governor of New York, the day Howard saved a caller from jumping off the George Washington Bridge, an all-star tribute to Sam Kinison, and much more.

The show will premier on December 21st and air through January 1st beginning at 6am ET on Howard 100 and 6am PT on Howard 101 in 10 separate original parts, with one installment airing each day that week and encore performances all day, nightly and throughout the weekend.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of listening to the show as long as I have because you were either too young, or now have the new found ability through Satellite Radio, this series is a must listen. To hear where this show has come from and how much it has evolved is an eye opening and entertaining experience. For more information check out sirius.com/historyofhoward.

Starting this coming Monday Snoop Dogg Nation, a commercial-free channel featuring music, interviews, and specials celebrating the career of the hip-hop icon, from his early days with Dr. Dre to his newest album, Malice N Wonderland will be taking over Hip Hop Nation on Sirius (ch. 40) and XM (ch. 67).

Snoop Dogg Nation, hosted by Snoop Dogg himself, will feature everything from his early collaborations with Dr. Dre, to Snoop’s first release in 1993, Doggystyle. Listeners will hear Snoop Dogg host an audio tour of his entire catalog, sharing stories about each album, including a track by track listen of his latest album. Snoop Dogg Nation will also feature a special countdown during which Snoop will count down his top 20 favorite hip-hop songs of all time.

Additionally, Snoop Dogg, will sit down with Hip-Hop Nation host Renada for an in-depth and revealing interview. Snoop will discuss creating his new album, his life as a ‘family man,’ his views on the music industry and more.

Based on what I have seen of Snoop Dogg on his own TV series Fatherhood and his episode of Man Caves, this should prove to be some interesting and compelling radio. One can only hope that Snoop gets interested enough in satellite radio that Shade 45 gets bumped for an all new Dogg Pound 45.

The new series will give the public access to the Jackson’s like never before. Some may feel that the family is capitalizing on the death of Michael, but regardless of your feelings about Michael, there is a sense that people want to know more for many reasons.

The A&E network is heavily advertising the series and Sirius XM is a sponsor of the premier. Some network ads are even mentioning Sirius XM as a sponsor. The show is highly anticipated by Jackson fans and the premier will likely be viewed by a wide audience.

For Sirius XM, the sponsorship move makes sense. As a company that brings more music to listeners than any other, Sirius XM is smart to hitch their brand to all things music, including this new Jackson series.

In a recent interview, Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin stated that he would like to renew Howard for less money and have him work more. The comment was innocent enough, in that the context of the interview was about how Sirius XM is going to cut costs and become a profitable company. Stern, with his big contract, would be a natural target for those critical of the performance of Sirius XM.

Mel Karmazin is a business man, and he is going to give an answer that indicates the goals of the company to cut costs. However, this is Sirius XM, and any comment faces the dangers of being spun out of control by any number of media outlets.

Let’s face it, Howard is finishing off a big contract and he is a major draw for satellite radio. His contract, which has about a year left is a major decision for Sirius XM, and even himself. On his radio show, Howard vented about Karmazin’s comments and ranted about how he may be done at the end of the current deal.

Typical to Stern Show fashion, he is using anything and everything to make his point. This includes rants about the contract and media coverage on his own show. In an economy where everyone is downsizing and cost cutting, should the premier draw of the company take a cut in pay? Regardless of anyone’s opinion, the decision rests with Howard himself and he will play every card at his disposal to make his next sweetheart deal.

If I had to bet on it, I would say he will sign again but, it wont be cheap. The original Stern deal came with a virtual boatload of stock. That stock has gone down in value substantially, thus making his “take-home” pay substantially less than what was initially published.

Ever since Howard Stern signed his first deal, confusion has reigned supreme. Media outlet after media outlet assumed he got $500 million for five years. The reality was that the original deal was $500 million for him, his staff, the studio construction, and a budget all of the talent featured on the Howard 100 and Howard 101 channels. This is not to say that he did not make a lot of money…he did. However, he is NOT making $100 million per year, and with a big chunk of the contract paid in stock that went down, don’t look for a similarly structured contract going forward. Howard will want more guaranteed money.

Howard Stern is no stranger to contract negotiations. He is also well aware that his radio show is the perfect format to get what he wants. The longer this plays out, the more leverage he has. Each news story covering the saga adds to the bottom line IF Sirius XM really wants to re-sign him.

Over the next several months look for the media to question whether Sirius XM “needs” to sign Howard Stern and for stories to question whether or not the company can afford to keep him on board. We saw foreshadowing of this happening with Howard 101 talent Bubba The Love Sponge. Ultimately, Bubba was hired to a contract that has him doing both terrestrial radio as well as satellite radio. Essentially, Bubba became a part time satellite radio employee.

The drama surrounding Howard Stern has just started. Watch for him to continue his radio based negotiations and for the media, as well as analysts, to assign a big question mark to the entire process. This will cause uncertainty that will be a central description of Sirius XM until the issue is resolved.

The news came in today that Sirius Traffic is available on all 2010 Mercedes Benz vehicles equipped with navigation and Sirius satellite radio. It is expected to be installed in 70% of the Mercedes Benz 2010 lineup and will be standard on the S-Class, CL-Class, CLS-Class and G-Class models.

Sirius Traffic comes pre-activated with a six month trial subscription for the higher then typical converting customers along with a six-month trial subscription of the “SIRIUS Everything” package.

For those of you who don’t know Sirius Traffic provides traffic speed and flow information to vehicles over Sirius’ network. It also provides information on traffic incidents, scheduled road closings and road construction. Since the Traffic feature is integrated with the vehicle’s navigation system, the service assists drivers in picking the quickest, safest routes based on real-time traffic conditions.