Is it possible to change the URL of an iTunes Podcast page itself (NOT the Feed URL)?

Question

My company has an usual question:
While keeping all the individual podcasts the same, and the subject matter of the whole podcast series the same, my company would like to change the URL that Apple iTunes has assigned us.  Is this possible, and how can it be done?
Again, I am talking about the URL that Apple iTunes has assigned us.  The one that begins:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/career-...
We are having a small change in marketing emphasis.  So my company wants to change one of the dashed English words in the URL, after:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/
These English words were based on the original title of our podcast.  The original title of our podcast has changed slightly, with no problem.  Now my company just wants to change the URL assigned to us by Apple.
Let me emphasize: There is no purpose of misdirection, evasion, or deceit here -- not in the slightest.  My company is simply taking a different marketing angle.  Our category is staying the same.  The podcasts themselves are staying the same.  My company would just like to update the URL assigned to us by Apple to reflect our new podcast series name.
ALSO:
We are a category-leading, very popular podcast.  If we do change our iTunes podcast URL, we do not at all want to jeopardize our leading status in our podcast subject category.  We want all our download stats to move with us over to the new URL.  This is extremely important to us.
AND FURTHER:
If we do change our iTunes podcast URL, we want all our listeners to automatically find us at the new URL.  We don't want any of them to lose their subscription because we changed our URL.
So in summary:
1. CAN we change our podcast URL (the one assigned to us by iTunes)?
2. Can we change the URL, but still keep our category-leading position and stats, exaclty as they are now?  That is, will our old download stats move with us to the new URL, so we can retain our category-leading position?
3. Will podcast listeners going to the old URL automatically be forwarded to the new URL?  Might any of our current listeners become unsubscribed as a result of the URL change?
I know this is an unusual, complicated, and multi-part question.  I am looking for definitive, authoritative answers to all these questions.
Thank you very much for your help!!
David

Answer 1

You can omit the title altogether in the URL (together with the succeeding slash, of course). For example, my own podcast URL in the Store is
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sound-of-78s/id166389425?mt=2
but this works perfectly well:
https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id166389425
Indeed you can even put your own title:
https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/any_old_title/id166389425
So it's as simple as that!