Sirius subscribers base clears 6.6 million

New York (NY) - Sirius announced solid Q1 2007 results, fueled by strong subscriber growth. Sirius was able to add more than 2.5 million new customers within one year and is closing the gap to XM, which Sirius is in the process of acquiring.

Sirius says it had 6,581,045 subscribers at the end of its fiscal first quarter 2007, which is up 61% over Q1 2007, when the company reported 4,077,747 subscribers. In the first three quarters of 2007 alone, Sirius added 556,490 new customers. XM still holds the market lead with 7.9 million subscribers as of March 31, 2007 but is losing ground to Sirius : XM only gained 1.4 million new customers over the past 12 months.

Sirius Q1 revenue increased 61% year-over-year, from $126.7 million to $204.0 million. Net loss improved from $458.5 million in Q1 2006 to $144.7 million.

For the complete year, Sirius expects its revenues to approach $1 billion. The acquisition with XM is expected to close by the end of year. At that time, the two satellite radio companies are believed to about 19 million subscribers, which will provide a foundation for more than $2 billion