Howard Stern Responsible For More Than Half Of New Sirius Subscribers

Sirius Satellite Radio announced a subscriber increase of 1,142,000 during the fourth quarter of 2005, and according to a new study from Bridge Ratings, 22 percent of Sirius' sign-ups during the week of October 3 alone were due directly to Howard Stern joining the satcaster. Bridge Ratings conducted surveys at retail outlets throughout the fourth quarter, and as Sirius marketing, awareness and the holiday season progressed, subscribers who signed on for Stern reached 58 percent in the week prior to Christmas. They topped 60 percent in the final three shopping days of the holiday season. The other reasons most commonly given for signing up for Sirius were "programming variety" and "no commercials."

Bridge Ratings projects that 715,000 of Sirius' fourth quarter sign-ups were due directly to Stern, and they also predict that during the month of January 2006, an additional 390,000 new subscribers will sign up to hear Howard. Bridge plans to continue monitoring the progress of Stern listeners on Sirius and will provide weekly trending and quarterly updates through 2006.

Howard Stern Debuts On Sirius

Howard Stern made his long-awaited debut on Sirius Satellite Radio today. While there were a few technical glitches at the start, once Stern and his crew got rolling, it was business as usual with only a couple noticeable changes in the program. The first is the hiring of George Takei as the announcer for Stern's program. Best known as Star Trek's Sulu, Takei was live in the studio for his debut. The other was the lack of commercials, as Stern's debut went commercial free -- and lasted well into the 11 a.m. hour. Stern said 6 commercial units per hour would show up starting tomorrow with clients including Heineken and Vermont Teddy Bear.

More of Stern's channel line-up kicks off today including a daily wrap-up show with Gary Dell’Abate & Jon Hein (now a fulltime employee) and the debut of Bubba The Love Sponge in afternoon drive.

Dell'Abate took home the prize for the first curse word uttered during the debut as he suggested playing Ben Folds "Bitches Ain't Shit," though later in the program Stern dropped the first F-bomb, even though he stated, "I've made it a personal rule that I'm not going to curse." Stern also denied during his program that he married longtime girfriend Beth Ostrosky as suggested in reports elsewhere.

Meanwhile, can Stern fans expect a podcast via iTunes? There is a Stern podcast page currently available at iTunes, but to date only contains a one minute, seventeen second advertisement for his Sirius program.

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Enough Said...

Whedon: Buffy Lives In Comics

Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, told fans on the Whedonesque.com fan Web site that he will be continuing the story of the Slayer in a series of Dark Horse comics, which he will write. "Speaking of Dark Horse Comics, they are starting a new Buffy comic, and as I understand it, it will take place after the end of Buffy and Angel and be canon in the Buffy world. And I understand it that way 'cause I'M WRITING IT. I'm kicking off the book with a four-issue arc that finds Buffy—you guessed it—living in Italy with The Immortal. ...Then I'll be overseeing the book more closely, to make sure it remains true." Whedon also said that he's still working on a TV movie featuring the character of Spike (played by James Marsters). "The infamous Spike movie. Still haven't finalized anything, but I feel that very soon I'll be able to go to James and say something a lot more interesting than 'Wouldn't it be cool if ... .' 'Course, I just hope he's free some time this decade. See how my peeps is all actifying!" Marsters currently has a recurring role in The WB's Smallville. Whedon, an avowed fan of comics, is no stranger to that world, having authored the Buffy-related Fray series for Dark Horse and the Astonishing X-Men series for Marvel.

O.C.'s Brody Bites Into TV Vampires

The O.C. star Adam Brody is going behind the TV camera, teaming with Doug Liman and Dave Bartis' Hypnotic to develop a series about a vampire-hunting Los Angeles cop for NBC, based on Brody's idea, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Brody's as-yet-untitled drama for NBC centers on a rookie cop who joins a special unit of the L.A.P.D. that tracks the vampire population. Separately, Hypnotic has set up the supernatural drama The Gift, from writers Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell, at The WB; it centers on a college freshman who discovers she has special powers.

Shout! Factory to Bring Elvira's Original Show to DVD

Elvira is coming to DVD! Cassandra Peterson, the former Las Vegas showgirl who in the early 1980s gained fame as the raven-haired TV horror-film hostess, is taking her act to Shout! Factory. The independent DVD supplier has licensed the entire archive of Elvira-hosted movies, including "Elvira's Movie Macabre," the nationally syndicated television series that ran from 1981-86. Peterson is screening her wraparounds to pick her favorites, and then Shout! Factory will begin the clearance process for the hosted movies not in the public domain.