COMPANY TOWN : Stern’s Gross Special Tops Pay-TV Grosses

Howard Stern’s raunchy New Year’s Eve special looks to be the top-grossing entertainment pay-per-view program of all time, beating out the previous record holder, a 1991 concert by the squeaky-clean pop group New Kids on the Block.

Main Events Television, which distributed the “Miss Howard Stern New Year’s Eve Pageant,� said a final tally will not be available until later this week, but the company estimated that more than 270,000 homes paid an average of $39.95 for the one hour and 50 minute special. If those figures hold up, the special will have grossed at least $12 million.

“In markets where Howard is No. 1 on the radio, we outdrew prizefights,� said Kathy Duva, marketing director at Totowa, N.J.-based Main Events. “I think we did very well.�

How much of the take shock jock Stern actually gets is unclear, but after Main Events takes its 45% distribution fee and $2 million in production and marketing costs are subtracted, Stern could earn in the neighborhood of $5 million to $6 million, observers estimated.

Another record probably set by Stern’s show is for bad taste during a live telecast.

Viewers who tuned in got to witness a woman eat live maggots, see “Star Wars� actor Mark Hamill lick chocolate sauce off a woman’s breast, and watch Stern offer John Wayne Bobbitt $15,000 to expose his severed penis on camera. (He declined, but Bobbitt did earn $260,000 from the sale of “severed part� T-shirts.)

None of which kept pay-per-view industry executives from pronouncing the telecast a roaring success.

“This was a phenomenal event,� said Bonnie Werth, president of Team Services, an independent PPV marketing firm.

“Stern probably has a franchise now,� Werth said.

No word yet, however, on when Stern plans his second show.

“He’s gone on vacation,� Duva said. “He deserves one.�