Howard Stern blames contract for keeping his show off iPhone app

Howard Stern doesn't sound too thrilled about his show being left off the Sirius XM iPhone app, blaming it on "a rights thing, a contractual rights thing."

Stern reportedly spent the first 30 minutes of his Monday show offering his explanation to listeners, who were upset last week when the app was launched without Stern. (I'm not a regular listener so I defer to a post on the Daily Finance blog.)

"It was a rights issue and a whole entanglement thing," he told his listeners on Monday, his first live show since the app was released. "So, we're not on it. Maybe one day we will be."

Last week, David Bank, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told the blog that without Stern's show, the iPhone app was like "a product-lite version." The app also leaves off the NFL, Major League Baseball and Nascar, but not the Playboy Channel.

Also see: Sirius XM neuters its iPhone app: Howard Stern, MLB, NFL out