http://www.businessinsider.com/sirius-xm-now-shrinking-2009-5
The recession is not helping Sirius XM (SIRI) radio as car purchases stall and competition increases. Blow-by-blow from today's earnings release: * The satellite radio monopolist said it lost 400,000 net subscribers during Q1, finishing the quarter with 18.6 million subs. * Retail subscribers -- those who sign up for Sirius on their own, not by buying a new car -- were the biggest defectors, at 370,000 net sub losses, down from 49,000 net sub losses a year ago. * But "OEM" subscribers -- people who get Sirius radios built into their new cars -- plummeted much faster. During Q1, a net 38,000 OEM subs left Sirius, almost 700,000 subscribers worse than net sub growth of 659,000 a year ago. A lot of that can be blamed on Detroit's downfall. * Churn, the percent of customers who ditch the service each month, increased to 2.2% from 1.9% a year ago. * And Sirius XM's conversion rate -- getting people to sign up for paid service after it's free for a while in their new car -- fell to 45%, down from 51% a year ago. At this rate, it's going to be very hard for Sirius to grow subscribers 8% this year, as the company predicted last November. That's one reason why shares are down 18% to $0.43 today. The (mildly) better news: Sirius expects to report more than $350 million in 2009 adjusted income, up from its previous guidance of $300 million. Still, an ugly situation that has no reason to get better. *********************************** * POST TO MEDIANEWS@ETSKYWARN.NET * *********************************** Medianews mailing list Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews