Satellite Radio

Howard Stern received a one-day suspension Monday after heavily promoting his move to satellite radio. "We expect him back on Wednesday," said Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for Infinity Broadcasting Corp., which carries Stern's syndicated show in more than 20 markets. Infinity is a unit of media giant Viacom Inc. She wouldn't call Stern's absence a suspension and declined to comment further. Listeners will hear a compilation of Stern's best shows today, she said.

Oprah Winfrey is launching her couch into outer space. The billionaire talk show host announced Thursday that she had signed a three-year, $55-million contract to oversee a new channel for XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and its 6 million subscribers. Called "Oprah & Friends," the channel will be more friends than Oprah, whose on-air commitment is one half-hour show a week for 39 weeks a year.

The Federal Communications Commission said licenses held by XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. would prevent them from combining, but one industry expert said they could ask for the licenses to be modified. "There's a prohibition on one entity owning both of those licenses," FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said. However, Martin also said the FCC would examine any transaction submitted to it.

Hugh Panero, one of the founders of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., is departing as chief executive of the company, a title he would have lost anyway if XM's proposed combination with rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. goes through. Panero's duties will be assumed on an interim basis by Nate Davis, who had been in the role of president and chief operating officer since July 2006. Davis, a former telecommunications executive, has served on the board of XM since 1999.

Through the years, Bob Dylan's dealings with the public have been difficult. Hear him live and he can be a mumbling and aloof musician. Riffle through interviews with Dylan on YouTube and you discover a contentious, pretentious artist who is laconic, distant, apparently indifferent to enunciation, pleasantries and other everyday social constructs.

Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed King of All Media, has lost his crown. The shock jock's syndicated morning radio show once drew a national audience of 12 million, but since jumping to satellite radio three years ago, his listeners have dwindled to a fraction of that.

Federal regulators appeared poised Wednesday to give final approval to the merger of the nation's only two satellite radio operators, which would bring together the two struggling companies after a 17-month quest. Deborah Taylor Tate, a Republican who held the swing vote on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, reportedly was ready to vote in favor of the $3.9-billion merger if Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. agreed to new conditions.

The chairman of the Senate's antitrust subcommittee Tuesday blasted the proposed merger of the country's two satellite radio providers, saying it would create a "business colossus" that would raise prices for listeners. "You have every right to ask ... but it's another thing to grant you that permission to be virtually unrivaled, unchallenged in this whole area," Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said at the third hearing on Capitol Hill over the merger. "What a business!

In announcing his defection to satellite radio, shock jock Howard Stern thumbed his nose at regulators, boasting that his raunchy show would then be free of government meddlers and fines. Some experts say Stern shouldn't be so sure the long arm of the law won't try to muzzle him -- even in outer space. "If the neoconservatives in government really want him, I think Howard Stern would have to move to Mars" to continue his shtick, said Deborah A.