Print this article | E-mail this article | Comment on this article

Sirius Grows, Reports Wider Loss

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

August 2, 2005, 11:38 AM

Sirius Satellite Radio may be turning the corner on subscriber growth, but the company is still struggling to make money and reported a wider quarterly loss Tuesday. Sirius also adjusted its subscriber guidance upwards, reflecting strong consumer demand for satellite radio services and momentum thanks to deals with its retail and automotive partners.

The company finished the quarter with 1,814,626 subscribers, an increase of 365,931 subscribers. Sirius now expects to have 3 million subscribers by years end, up from the 2.7 million previously forecasted. Net loss widened to $177.5 million, up from $136.8 million a year ago, however was down from last quarter's $193 million loss. Sirius also showed improvement in the cost to acquire subscribers: $160 versus $234 a year ago and $190 last quarter.

Add a Comment (11 Comments)

BetaNews reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

By bmkiss67

posted Aug 3, 2005 - 1:55 PM

My biggest concern is what happens if Sirius goes bust? And as for matching content on cable tv, that would be because some cable and sat systems actually use sat radio for their music channels. BTW, I would also think that it would be pretty hard to use cable tv in you car, unless you plan on permenently parking you car in your front yard.

Score: 0

By Valathax

edited Aug 3, 2005 - 1:34 PM

Satellite radio is a superior alternative to local AM/FM radio stations. I have been very satisfied with our Sirius satellite radio, I would highly recommend it if you do a lot of driving.

Please note that there are no ads on the music channels, only the talk channels have ads.

Score: 0

By cousinkix1953

edited Aug 3, 2005 - 7:11 PM

What did you expect. They deliver the same syndicated programs, like a simulcast of Sean Hannity's WABC AM show from New York. Never mind that I can hear this on three different terrestial stations around here.

NPR is on the satellite systems complete with their underwriter's ads. Another channel is the soundtrack of MSNBC's cable TV programming. You get to pay for the commercials too.

Score: 0

By zridling

posted Aug 3, 2005 - 8:02 AM

I tested both XM and Sirius and found both lame. Their content is nothing not already found on Cable TV, and most of the people there are former retreads FROM cable! Too expensive to even bother with. And YES, there ARE ads on both of these, don't let them fool you.

Score: 0

By tigger4046

posted Aug 4, 2005 - 9:52 AM

Well as an XM Subscriber you should now have some new stations to listen to as America Online and XM have teamed up. Mater of fact, if you goto aol.com and register you will notice when listening to the radio channel there are XM channels there for free. But what you may not be aware of it, signing up for the AOL free trial you'll have access to well over 70 new channels of XM to play with ontop of the 200 + stations already included. In my opionion, if Sirrus doesn't change it's approached it will be off the market in no time.

Score: 0

By SaCo

posted Aug 2, 2005 - 5:30 PM

yep yep the cost of stren hit em pretty hard...but yet stern was the man that made me and ma dad switch..(im a youngin) but yeah cheap music could hurt it but as for me i liek the heavy metal chan and the comedy chan and all with no censors:P i got gmail invites care for 1 or a few mrfrostbite@gmail.com

Score: 0

By AgentZ5000

posted Aug 2, 2005 - 4:40 PM

Satellite radio is cool. But with services such as Napster to go, cheap digital music, cheap digital music players and the ability to take your music with you I question how succesful the radio model could be in the long run.

Maybe its just me, anybody got any ideas?

Score: 0

By Maestr0

posted Aug 3, 2005 - 10:53 PM

I have to agree. I have XM and I have Yahoo's version of Napster to Go. It was 58 dollars for the year, and I can download as much as I want to my mp3 player, use a tape adapter to the car, and voila. It even makes 'radio stations' that you can download as well.

However, I do find my wife using XM a lot.

Score: 0

By jbaltz69

posted Aug 2, 2005 - 11:53 AM

I hope they get it turned around, satellite radio is awesome. As for the quarterly losses, that's the cost of doing business in an industry such as satellite radio. Highly technical, very expensive. As their subscriber base grows, this will eventually even out and turn into profit.

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Aug 2, 2005 - 11:41 AM

They may just get this thing turned around. Remember that much of that cost was from hiring Stern, et al, well before they can hit the air. Add the NFL, NBA, NASCAR... it's aggresive, but they have the better content.

Score: 0

By crawkid

edited Aug 3, 2005 - 1:48 AM

Sat Radio is in its infancy and YES there is IPOD's and other recording devices, but compared to Sat Radio those are waste of good money in my opinion. The variety, the special programming, news, sports, entertainment. You are not going to get all that on an IPOD. I got tired of ripping music, doing downloads. Now, I just crap my plug and play tuner and go. Outdoors I use my Boombox, which has gone with me camping to the beach or anywhere else I wanted to take it.

All new business ventures loose money before they make money. With almost 2 million subscribers Sirius is on track and they will be just fine!

Score: 0

Dec 5 - 1:45 AM ET Shazam: eight million songs of the eternal Now

Dec 4 - 7:30 PM ET Comcast to offer bandwidth consumption monitor

Dec 4 - 5:37 PM ET Counterfeiters sing the 'Blue' as Microsoft lawyers up

Dec 4 - 4:40 PM ET Opera 10 alpha shows off new Presto rendering engine

Dec 4 - 2:29 PM ET Apple: Psystar clone-maker is working with unnamed collaborators

Dec 4 - 2:21 PM ET Windows Live rollout sketchy, team apologizes

Dec 4 - 2:20 PM ET Stinging from a revenue shortfall, Adobe to shed workers

Dec 4 - 11:47 AM ET The storm hits AT&T, with a five-digit headcount reduction

Dec 4 - 11:42 AM ET TV sports adopts Web coverage, plays with iPhones

Dec 4 - 11:24 AM ET Microsoft seeks 'community' help to make IE8 Standards Mode work out