Report: SiriusXM To Focus On Howard Stern's Deal

Howard Stern’s contract with SiriusXM is up at year end and the company’s CEO Jim Meyer this week said he plans to pick up the pace on renewal talks and “work hard” to keep the outspoken, wildly popular host, Deadline is reporting.

“The relationship between Howard and myself has been great and is great right now… I trust Howard and Howard trusts me,” said Meyer at the CSFB media conference Wednesday. Renewal talks started late last year. Stern hosts The Howard Stern Show and dedicated Sirius XM channel, Howard 100. The “King of All Media” moved to the satellite radio platform in 2006.

Jim Meyer

“Howard’s agent and I communicate every week back and forth and I had hoped to be able to sit and do this process in person and get going. I think it is probably going to take too long to wait for a good window for that, that so I don’t see any reason why we won’t pick up the pace on those discussions. I want Howard to work at Sirius XM for as long as Howard wants to work,” Meyer said.

“It’s a free country.  And Howard Stern is going to work wherever Howard Stern wants to work. But I know one thing, Howard Stern wants to work somewhere where he’s happy and valued and where he trusts the people around him, and he has that at Sirius XM and I think it’s worked great for him,” he added.

“I think the issue in the renewal with Howard is what does Howard want to do going forward now that he’s seen, you know, what is going on in podcasting. He is  a radio guy, you know, he has told me that, he’s a morning guy. He’s told me many times he’s a morning guy. So we’ll work our way through that and hopefully we’ll have good news when we get through that… I wanted Howard with us as long as he wants to be here and I’m going to work hard at it.”