[BC] Satcasters Add 1 Million Subs; WiFi Link Next?

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via Billboard
http://www.billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news/business/digital/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002800848


Satcasters Add 1 Million Subs; WiFi Link Next?
July 06, 2006
By Tony Sanders


Together, Sirius and XM added nearly 1 million 
net subscribers during the second quarter this 
year, according to company releases, which brings 
their total subscribership to 11.6 million individuals.

Sirius added 600,000 net subscribers during the 
April-to-June period and now says it has 4.68 million total subscribers.

XM added 398,000 net subscribers during the same 
period, to wind up the quarter with 6.89 million total subscribers.

Wall Street analysts on Thursday (July 6) 
described the subscriber gains as either ?in 
line? with their expectations, in the case of XM, 
or above expectations, in the case of Sirius.

Jason Helfstein of CIBC World Markets calls 
himself a longterm believer in satellite radio 
but adds that he expects XM?s shares to remain 
volatile for a while, in part because the company 
did not update its projections on how many 
subscribers it expects to have by the end of 
2006. The analyst expects XM to end up with 8.36 
million and says XM has guided analysts with its own estimate of 8.5 million.

Bear Stearns analyst Bob Peck said Sirius? 
subscriber adds were ?significantly higher than 
our 565k estimate.? He also expects that Sirius 
will maintain its subscriber momentum into the 
Summer?driven, in part, by an expected push into 
offering a Wi-Fi enabled receiver.

In a note to investors this morning, Peck wrote: 
?The technological gap between the two has 
largely narrowed to an extent that the features 
available on one platform are virtually comparable to those on the other.?

The next stage in this development, he says, will 
be Sirius?s next-generation receiver: a ?live 
wearable satellite radio-cum-MP3 player. . . that 
could feature WiFi access (as Sirius becomes 
agnostic to the method of distribution.)?

Peck says such a device could be released by the end of this summer.




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