Satellite radio company Sirius said it gained 2.3 million subscribers in 2007, bringing its total subscriber number to over 8.3 million. That’s a gain of 38% in 2007, so it seems that satellite radio is definitely a major player. Recently, research firm Parks Associates forecasted that satellite radio subscribers will almost double from 20.5 million in 2008 to 39 million by 2012.

Meanwhile, the proposed merger between Sirius and XM is still being held up by the Justice Department and the FCC. The merger was announced back in February 2007, and so far it has been held up by regulator concerns. Shareholders have already approved the merger, but there has been opposition from the NAB, a lobbying organization for radio broadcasters. Yesterday, the FCC said that it will make its decision sometime this quarter.

Bonus: Check out a comparison between Sirius and XM here.

Technorati Tags: Sirius, XM Radio, satellite radio

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According to research from Parks Associates, about 70 million consumers will either have HD radio or satellite radio by 2012.

Parks Associates says that satellite radio subscribers will grow from 20.5 million in 2008 to 39 million by 2012. HD radio adoption will increase from 4.2 million in 2008 to 30 million by 2012.

Technorati Tags: satellite radio, HD radio, Sirius, XM

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Satellite radio companies Sirius and XM Radio have decided to merge, and I think that’s a good thing. Of course, traditional radio broadcasters, the NAB, and their lobbyists think that the merger means that there will be a satellite radio “monopoly”. Congress has been holding hearings and holding up the merger, thanks to all the radio lobbyists.

Fortunately now it’s time for the public to weigh in on this. The FCC said that it is opening up public comments on the merger. You can submit comments electronically, or through snail mail.

I’m a Sirius subscriber and I frankly don’t think there’s a big deal about this merger. If Sirius and XM merge will the price go up? It’s possible. But I already invested money in paying for the hardware, and pay a monthly fee, so I’m ok if prices go up. Some have said that the companies may even introduce tiered pricing. If so, that’s definitely a vote yes for the merger.

When the satellite companies were formed, the bandwidth was split between the two companies. If they merge, they can combine that bandwidth and deliver lots of next-gen media services.

Don’t make the mistake of being short-sighted about the XM-Sirius deal. For now, satellite radio is all that’s at stake. But with a combined company, and a full satellite spectrum, the combined company can roll out additional services such as: TV/video, mapping and GPS. Maybe in the future, that means Internet access. Audio is just one piece of the pie. Wouldn’t you like to have one device in your car that delivers TV, radio, GPS and more?

Plus don’t forget that XM and Sirius also have web sites where subscribers can listen over the Internet too.

Radio stations are scared. They don’t want more competition. Research company eMarketer announced recently that online advertising will surpass radio advertising revenues by 2008.

They are trying anything to get this deal stopped.

In fact, the head of the NAB just sent the CEO of Sirius a letter saying to back off the merger.

Well, I guess it’s worth a try.

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Well, it seems that Howard Stern will have some extra cash to pay off those holiday bills. Sirius announced that it paid Howard an $83 million stock bonus, because he met subscriber growth targets.

Last week Sirius said that it had surpassed 6 million subscribers for 2006.

Clearly, Howard Stern is still the King of All Media. Who else can get that many people to pay a monthly fee to listen to a radio show?

“The decision to bring Howard Stern to Sirius required a very significant commitment and we are very pleased that our investment has dramatically paid off,” said Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin in a statement.

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It looks like the Howard Stern effect is still going strong.

Last week, satellite radio company Sirius announced that it had reached 6 million subscribers at the end of 2006, up 82% from 2005.

Sirius also announced that it had reached its first ever quarter of positive cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2006. That’s good news for investors, since Sirius often bleeds cash.

XM Satellite Radio, meanwhile, announced on Friday that it finished 2006 with 7.625 million subscribers. One analyst, however, was not impressed:

Craig Moffett, an analyst with Bernstein Research, asserts that the numbers are less than impressive. “There’s no way to put a positive spin on XMSR’s subscriber results…last year at this time, XMSR was guiding for 9 million subscribers by the end of 2006, implying a net gain of over 3 million.”

XM released some news this morning at the CES show in Las Vegas, but really, there was nothing terribly exciting.
Rumors of a merger between XM and Sirius are still continuing.

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