NEW YORK – In its quarterly report filed Tuesday, American company Sirius Satellite Radio referred to its Canadian operations in a single line, which read: "For the first quarter of 2006, the company recorded ($4.4) million for its share of SIRIUS Canada, Inc.’s net loss."
That’s in U.S. bucks and for the January to March 2006 time frame. Given the 20%-40%-40% ownership structure (Sirius-CBC-Standard Broadcasting) of the Canadian company, that puts Sirius Canada’s Q1 ’06 losses at US$22 million or so – with CBC and Standard on the hook for US$8.8 million each.
While Sirius Canada is a private company and declined any comment on the American company’s statement when contacted by www.cartt.ca on Tuesday, one could say the figures – when compared to XM Canada’s – may mean the two Canadian satellite companies could be on a similar track in the market.
XM Canada reported a smaller loss compared to Sirius, of C$21 million in its last quarter, but it’s latest quarter ended February 28, 2006. As of that day, Canadian Satellite Radio, XM Canada’s parent, had 44,000 paying subscribers.
For the full Sirius U.S. release (where: revenue in Q1 tripled to US$126 million; customer levels hit 4.07 million; losses came in at US$458.5 million – a 137% increase; it was announced the Howard Stern channel will be streamed to subscribers on the Internet; the company looks to be free cash flow positive by Q1 2007; and CEO Mel Karmazin said: "This was a great quarter on every front for Sirius."), click here.
