Sirius, Stern ask FCC for Piracy Help

[Gary Floyd 0]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-free...nes%22,,-1,0,,,,

 

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., which liberated radio shock jock Howard Stern from the federal decency standards that he felt had shackled him, is finding that freedom's just another word for $500 million to lose.

 

Since Jan. 9, when Stern debuted on Sirius, pirated versions of the shows have been made available for free via several online file-sharing networks just hours after Stern signs off. The New York-based broadcaster signed Stern to a five-year, half-billion-dollar contract in 2004.

 

Now, Sirius is, in a word, furious. "We don't condone the stealing of Howard's show, or any of the content on our more than 125 channels," Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly said. "We vigorously protect our intellectual property rights and we will actively prosecute those who attempt to steal it."

I understand that he doesn't want his show pirated. I just find it ironic that he's asking the FCC for help now.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

But I thought Stern went to satellite radio to get away from the confines of the oppressive FCC.

 

In all fairness though, Stern, when I used to listen to him, was always against Napster and other file-swapping programs.

 

By the way, has anyone here bought Sirius just to listen to Howard Stern?

[Ted the Poster 0]

The ONLY torrents I have seen are for the Stern show, and they're not getting many downloads either. Sirius is just bitchy because they're so behind.

[Angle-plex 0]

I got sirius mainly for Stern, although I realize the show's been going downhill for about 10 years now.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Whats going to happen is that the FCC and the RIAA are going to effectively strangle Satellite Radio to death by crippling future sat radio receivers to prevent piracy. Howard Stern really isn't much of a factor but it might cause them to act quicker since he's basically gone out and told them that people can pirate Sat radio. Plus Im sure terrestrial radio will stick their noses in to do anything to stop Sat Radio from taking more and more of their advertising listeners away.

 

Anyway, Its easy to see that the first thing to go will be the FM modulation feature for in car use because thats a quick and dirty (but not nearly as great quality) way to rip stuff off of standard recievers (I do it with my Zen Micro's FM record function and set my Roady XT to fm modulate out..simple and effective). Who cares about all the people who have no cassette player in their car or dont want to spend the money to have it hardwired into a car. All of the future Sat Radio/MP3 Player/recorder radio hardware coming out (which is what XM is hitting on the most this year) will be crippled with no way to record specific songs/programs or a way to transfer songs on the player to a computer and vice versa.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Whats going to happen is that the FCC and the RIAA are going to effectively strangle Satellite Radio to death by crippling future sat radio receivers to prevent piracy. Howard Stern really isn't much of a factor but it might cause them to act quicker since he's basically gone out and told them that people can pirate Sat radio. Plus Im sure terrestrial radio will stick their noses in to do anything to stop Sat Radio from taking more and more of their advertising listeners away.

 

Anyway, Its easy to see that the first thing to go will be the FM modulation feature for in car use because thats a quick and dirty (but not nearly as great quality) way to rip stuff off of standard recievers (I do it with my Zen Micro's FM record function and set my Roady XT to fm modulate out..simple and effective). Who cares about all the people who have no cassette player in their car or dont want to spend the money to have it hardwired into a car. All of the future Sat Radio/MP3 Player/recorder radio hardware coming out (which is what XM is hitting on the most this year) will be crippled with no way to record specific songs/programs or a way to transfer songs on the player to a computer and vice versa.

I'm no legal expert, but didn't the Supreme Court already rule about the legalities of recording such programs, vis a vis the VHS controversies? I don't think the RIAA can prevent either XM or Sirius from producing a recordable system, and as long as there is competition the satellite radio companies will have incentives to produce better hardware. Besides, as long as I have a tape adaptor or an FM transmitter, I could realistically tape programming. It doesn't require anything special, just the use of the "Line Out" jack on the back of the base. The only real problem is with "exclusive" programming such as Bob Edwards or Howard Stern, but that's not the RIAA's problem.

 

XM Radio has MLB, and I honestly can't see what terrestrial radio can do to counter that.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

XM is offered online, and I do frequently record music and their programming thanks to my lovely Cool Edit software. It's not like I'm selling it, but I do use it to help get other people to buy XM.

[Vyce 0]

Meatwad is sort of in the process of convincing me to get XM.

 

Why the fuck would I want to get Sirius? For STERN? You gotta be shitting me.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Yeah, I don't get that. Who even listens to a morning drive show in its entirety, anyway? I don't think I've ever listened to a morning show on the radio for more than like an hour. And isn't Sirius only available on car radios? What do you guys do, hop in your cars and just camp out for a few hours to listen to Howard Stern's shitty program?

[Star Ocean 3 0]

There are quite a few people downloading Carolla's show and listening to the whole thing.

[Vyce 0]

Yeah, I don't get that. Who even listens to a morning drive show in its entirety, anyway? I don't think I've ever listened to a morning show on the radio for more than like an hour. And isn't Sirius only available on car radios? What do you guys do, hop in your cars and just camp out for a few hours to listen to Howard Stern's shitty program?

 

Well, for XM at least (and Sirius I imagine as well), you can listen at home by using a home kit. Sold separately, of course.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Listening to a morning drive show in its entirety at home might be even worse. Maybe I'd be more forgiving if the subject was a program that wasn't fucking awful.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

There are boom boxes available for both systems.

[the max 0]

Boomboxes suck, you're better off getting the home kit, since it has the fm transmitter built into the radio. That way, you can make any radio in your house a satellite radio.

 

From what I've read, it's 50/50 getting any kind of adequate signal with a boombox, as opposed to a home kit. Plus the home kit's cheaper.

[Vyce 0]

I just bought an XM radio receiver (and home kit) today. Set it up tonight, activated it, and right now I'm listening to O&A.

 

Seriously, if you're a sports fan, the service is worth it just for the sports stations. I was listening to a bit of an NHL game earlier and it's going to be fantastic having three different channels to listen to once MLB starts.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Listening to a morning drive show in its entirety at home might be even worse. Maybe I'd be more forgiving if the subject was a program that wasn't fucking awful.

 

Last thursday O&A had 3 guys stuff their nutsacks inside jars with bees that stung the hell out of them. 1 guy stuck 6 mousetraps to his as well.

 

If anything, it was really painful. But other than that it was the greatest 4 hours of radio ever. I cant wait for the DVD they said they were planning..

[Vyce 0]

I just downloaded that show, it is fucking unreal.

 

Stern hasn't done anything that interesting or amusing in well over a decade.