Today it was announced that Howard Stern has inked a new deal with Sirius XM satellite radio that will keep him on air through 2015. This is great news for all of the iPhone toting Stern fans out there as this new deal allows for his show to be on for another five years but it also allows the show to be streamed over your iOS device via the Sirius application, something that was not allowed previously due to Stern’s old contract.

Sirius XM executives would not comment on whether they paid extra to work this arrangement into the new contract and they would give no time frame of when the streaming would start to take place.

[Electronista]

There’s a crazy rumor floating around the web that Howard Stern, a popular radio personality who’s been in the business for 35 years, will be leaving Sirius Satellite Radio after his contract ends in January to pursue a possible deal with Apple. The rumored deal calls for a $600 million 3-year contract for an internet broadcast show distributed through iTunes, and could be made available to Apple TV owners as well.

We’d take this with a king of all media sized grain of salt, however, as @SIRI_STOCK isn’t the official Twitter account for Sirius. In addition, $600 million for 3 years seems a bit over the top. Then again, anything related to Stern is usually considered to be somewhat controversial, so your guess is as good as ours.

I know I’d be interested if this turned out to be true. Any of our readers feel the same? Sound off in the comments below!

UPDATE: It appears to be a hoax. Softsquach blogged about how they used the twitter account to mess with the community a bit.

I posted the below tweet on a friend’s Sirius Satellite News Twitter account earlier today [...] Don’t believe everything you read people!

Although it’s just wishful thinking at this point, it would have been interesting to see how something like this would have played out. Move along, folks!

(Thanks for the tip, Art!)

Well it is official, Sirius XM will be streaming it’s satellite radio content sometime this spring according to CNBC. This announcement has come very quickly after Nicemac announced they were closing shop and this is exactly what we predicted was going on from the first time StarPlayr was “not accepted” by Apple. Mel Karmazin, chief executive of New York-based Sirius said:

“It behooves us to consider every possible way to grow our subscriber base.”

Good idea Mel, unfortunately no other details have emerged as to price or an exact date they plan to roll this out. So all of you Howard fans out there can finally breath easily, you will soon be able to stream Sirius XM content right on your beloved iPhones.

Bobba Booey to ya’ll!

[Via CNBC. Thanks to Mike for the tip.]

Is this really a surprise to anyone who was following the whole Sirius StarPlayr for the iPhone debacle? No wonder Nicemac said their iPhone StarPlayr app was “not rejected” but rather “not approved”. It looks like they ran into some sirius issues with Sirius XM and not Apple. Which I might point out, is what many of our readers predicted.

NiceMac has decided it is in our best interests to discontinue the StarPlayr project. NiceMac will be issuing refunds for purchasers of StarPlayr for Windows Mobile on a first come first serve basis until corporate funds have been exhausted.

Could in their “best interests” mean Sirius XM told them to close shop or they will shut them down themselves?

So what do you think? Nicemac never seemed to have issues before with their software. Whether if it was for Windows Mobile or Macs. This iPhone app may have brought too much attention and Sirius XM said that’s enough.

Maybe we will see a official Sirius XM app in the App Store sooner rather than later. Hmm… we have a feeling it will be sooner.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

UPDATED: Developer NiceMac provided an update in the comments:

The app was not rejected, however it could not be approved at this time.

It does no good to send hate mail to or bash Apple or any other involved parties. In fact, it could damage relationships required to get this product to market.

Instead, we encourage positive emails and messages of support to all those involved.

ORIGINAL: Lately I have been the bearer of bad news. First it was Apple rejecting the official South Park application and now they’re breaking our hearts once more and waving bye bye to Howard Stern and Sirius XM by rejecting the uSirius StarPlayr application that we previously told you was due to be in the App Store in a few short weeks. Yes this is a very sad day, as I am a huge Howard Stern fan like many of you.

“As of yesterday, the uSirius StarPlayr Application for iPhone still had a status of “In Review” with Apple. Late last night, we became aware that the application could not be approved at this time. As fans, we are committed to continuing to work with all parties involved as necessary in any capacity required to see this product to market. It is our goal, as it has always been, to release this application at as low of a price point as possible, if not free of charge.”

With no real reason given why this application was rejected, we must sadly move on. You really have to wonder what exactly made Apple reject this application. Surely it was not Sirius XM as Howard himself loved the idea and was ready to pick up an iPhone just for this application.

Apple, why did you reject this one? This was an application that I been patiently waiting for… oh so much. This news will surely disappoint Howard and many of the other Sirius XM iPhone owners out there.

Hopefully, we will see this application available on Cydia or the App Store sooner rather than later.

[Thanks to Darren for the tip!]