Howard Stern’s a Lame Duck in His Mind Only, E! Says

The rumors of Howard Stern’s imminent demise from E! Entertainment Television because of Disney’s financial investment in the cable channel have been greatly exaggerated--at least for the time being.

Even though shock-jock Stern has been saying on his nationally syndicated radio show this week that the teaming of the Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. to purchase the majority stake in E! Entertainment might mean the end of his risque TV show, executives insist that Stern may be spared.

“It’s early right now to be discussing any changes, but we’re not anticipating anything, particularly when it comes to Howard and our ‘Talk Soup’ show,” Lee Masters, president and chief executive of E!, said Friday. “These are our two highest-rated shows, our signature shows. Any discussions about them would be rather significant to our business. They’re the most helpful in branding our network.”

Added Rich Frank, the head of C3, the programming unit of Comcast that will run the new venture: “All we’ve done is announce the arrangement. Any rumors or discussions about Howard are not coming from the new partners. This is all premature. Howard is Howard. He creates news. That’s why he’s so interesting. But no decision has been reached.”

Masters said: “I don’t think it will necessarily go the way Howard says. We love Howard. He’s done a great job.”

Stern and his representatives could not be reached for comment.

Disney and Comcast are paying $321 million to Time Warner to buy a majority stake in E!, which mostly airs programming about the entertainment industry.

Although much of its programming revolves around movie premieres, gossip and documentaries about celebrities, the cable network also has carried controversial shows such as reenactments of the O.J. Simpson civil trial and edited versions of Stern’s daily radio program, in which sex is a frequent topic of discussion and some guests strip.

For instance, on Thursday’s broadcast of the show, a man displayed his penis inside Stern’s studios. Masters said he did not see the body part on the tape of the show, and that the studio was too dark. He added that the show was reviewed by E’s standards and practices department.

Although no firm decisions have been made, Masters and Frank said that they expect considerable money will be spent to beef up E’s original programming and live coverage of premieres.

“Both companies are very bullish on our original programming,” Masters said. “There will definitely be more resources put toward our programming. We’ll have more news, specials, more behind-the-scenes coverage.”

Added Frank: “We have really strong feeling that this will be a fantastic niche in the programming area. We fully expect to spend the resources to make it the best channel possible.”