Howard Stern Floats “Ownership” as SiriusXM Contract Negotiating Point

Howard Stern continues to speak with SiriusXM about renewing his contract.

In an interview with Andy Cohen, another member of the SiriusXM stable, Stern reflected on his love of the satellite radio company, which he notes he helped build subscribership for, and said he’s still in negotiations over what may happen next with his own contract. He also implied that if he does stay he plans to take “ownership” of some type in the company, which he owns stock in.

“I’m talking to Sirius right now about extending in some way, and if that works out great, and if it doesn’t, great. I mean not great, I love this company,” Stern told Cohen.

He went on to talk about moving to Sirius in 2006, at a time when he said he believes the satellite radio only had about 200,000 subscribers and was facing stiff competition from XM, which Sirius later merged with.

“Today, there’s this robust company that is broadcasting, and a guy like you comes on and you create Radio Andy, and they’re right wing and left wing and music. And you know, there’s every kind of thing you could want, and I’m very proud of it. And if do end up staying with this company, I’m going to take ownership of that,” he continued.

Asked whether his archive of shows has come up in the negotiation, and whether it has to be re-upped each time, Stern would not directly answer the question, but said that he owns the archives.

“One of the things that I will tell you is that when I make a deal with Sirius, they don’t want me talking about it, and I don’t want them talking about it, but they do consider that material very important,” Stern said.

In 2024, SiriusXM President Scott Greenstein told The Hollywood Reporter that even if Stern were to retire, SiriusXM would still have Stern’s library of content on air for a number of years.

Rumors circulated this summer about SiriusXM not wanting to renew Stern’s contract, amid his high price tag and his less frequent broadcasting schedule. Stern, 71, has also been long-rumored to be retiring after his decades-long career as a talk show host. His five-year deal is up at the end of 2025 and was estimated to be worth $100 million a year.

On Monday, SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz told THR she believed they would “get to the right place.”

On Cohen’s show, Stern went on to talk about the rumors that he had been kicked off the air for being “took woke,” noting that he was on vacation when it happened.

“If I’m too woke, the world has turned upside down. I mean, holy shit, the stuff I do and talk about, I don’t even know what that means. But you know what if it means I’m awakened, God bless,” he said.

He added that he had been friends with Donald Trump, and the two had attended each other’s weddings. He was also at Mar-a-Lago when Trump announced his first run for presidency. Trump then later asked Stern to introduce him at the Republican Convention, which Stern said he turned down because he told him he was a Hillary Clinton supporter. That was the last time the two spoke.

Asked by Cohen if Stern had a favorite era of his show after decades on air, Stern said he did not as he believes the show needs to constantly evolve.

“The show has to constantly change and evolve. At my age now, it can’t be what I did when I was 20, right? It can’t be when I was 30,” Stern said.

“When I started the show, all I thought about was, ‘I’ve got to break down every taboo,’ right? You know, they say I can’t talk about sex. I’d have porn stars in every day,” Stern said. “It was salacious, obviously. But at the same point too, it seemed to me to stick a thumb in the eye and to talk about religion, to talk about sexuality, anything, you talk about drug use, anything you weren’t supposed to. Why is everything so fucking taboo? And so I was a young, angry guy. I didn’t think about the consequences of anything I said.”