LAS VEGAS – Saying it now has over six million paying customers, XM Satellite Radio announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it expects to have nine million in 12 more months.
Thanks to growing original content and growth in the factory-installed new car market, XM extended its lead over SIRIUS in 2005 by adding 2.7 million net new subscribers, although the full impact of Sirius’ addition of star jock Howard Stern has yet to be felt, since he only starts Monday.
"XM added a record number of new subscribers in 2005, representing 84% growth over prior year ending subscribers," said Hugh Panero, president and CEO, XM Satellite Radio.
Both XM and Sirius, however, are still recording losses in the hundreds of millions.
XM also had a record holiday selling season. More than 85 percent of XM’s nearly 900,000 net new subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2005 came from retail sales. XM ended 2005 with 5,933,000 subscribers, not including radios purchased as Christmas gifts that were not activated before December 31 and will be activated during the first quarter of 2006.
XM today joined world-class consumer electronics manufacturers Samsung and Pioneer in unveiling the portable Pioneer Inno XM2go and the Samsung Helix XM2go satellite radios. “These wearable devices represent an enormous breakthrough in portable audio, giving consumers the power to play live XM on the go, as well as MP3s, WMA files, and stored XM content,” says the press release. “The user can even bookmark songs heard on XM, connect the device to the PC, and purchase bookmarked songs from the XM + Napster online service.”
XM Canada has not yet announced how strong its Christmas sales were.
