I know this was all over the news today, but there is a real reason for it, and it isn’t only because mentioning Howard Stern on your show will get you ratings. The reason why this is exciting, newsworthy stuff, is the market changing impact Howard Stern moving his show to Sirius Satellite Radio WILL have.

Here are the facts.

As of September 6th of this year, Sirius had just over 600,000 subscribers, and are on track to surpass 1 million customers by the end of the year. That is nothing. So far below their expectations, despite the superiority of satellite radio programming options, quality, and lack of commercials. I expect the main reason is the lack of portability and relative expense of the equipment, and the $12/month without any marquee products.

Starting earlier this year, Sirius added an exclusive contract for all of the NFL games, commercial free, etc. That should be a pretty good draw, but honestly, I don’t know a single person who listens to football on the radio EXCEPT if they are at the game. Of course, right now, there is no portable satellite options. I expect that satellite radio subscriptions will skyrocket when it comes built into an iPod, until then, it going to remain a new car option option, and that’s it. Until this morning.

Howard Stern regularly attracts over 12 million FANATICAL listeners per day. They, we, desperately long for unregulated, uncensored Stern, but never get it. It explains the huge numbers of purchasers of each of the few pay-per-view events that have been available over the years. I still remember the Butt-Bongo Fiesta. These are the same fans that drove Howard’s books to #1, and made his movie such a success. These fans are willing to spend money. Period.

Sirius is giving Stern $100 million per year for 5 years according to the contract. That money includes money to spent on the production itself, the staff, and the facilities, but will still propel Howard past Oprah in terms of yearly salary. That is sick. But will it be worth it? YES. Sirius says if they get 1 million subscribers from this deal they will have made their money back. That’s a sweet target, because I will be surprised if this show doesn’t drive the member base up by 4 or 5 million subscribers, and even that seems conservative. People simply cannot live without him. That’s it.

This is great for Howard, great for the listeners, and great for Sirius. But it’s really great for technology. This deal will single handedly be the slam dunk for satellite radio that it has so desperately needed, along with dealing, hopefully, a crushing blow to the terrestrial analog radio and the FCC.

For more, you can check out HowardStern.com, Sirius.com.