XM Satellite's loss shrinks
Reuters February 10, 2005, 7:19 AM PT
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5570889.html
XM Satellite Radio Holdings said Thursday that fourth-quarter losses narrowed on revenue that more than doubled as its subscriber base grew.
The leader in the nascent pay-radio market, XM forecasts subscriber growth of about 71 percent this year and expects to reach cash flow break-even in 2006.
XM said it has more than 3.2 million subscribers, including a net 713,101 added in the fourth quarter.
The company posted a quarterly loss of $188.2 million, or 93 cents per share, compared with a loss of $162.9 million, or $1.12 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $83.1 million, from $33.5 million, a year ago.
Analysts had expected a loss of 80 cents a share on revenue of $80.1 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
XM said its cost per gross addition, a measure of how much it spends to draw in new subscribers, was $100 in 2004, down from $137 in 2003.
No one expected either of these to make instant money. But I do believe they will be VERY profitable in the future.
I just bought a new car that has XM in it and a three-month free trial. Everything you read about XM is "commercial free!" But when I listened on the hour drive home, they had the same amount of what I'd call commercials as regular radio. What they REALLY mean is that the music channels are MOSTLY commercial-free, but the rest of the channels are just more of the same BS. As far as I'm concerned, whether it's a commercial for deodorant or a commercial to listen to another XM channel, they're both the same. As for the talkie channels, they bandwidth limit them (algorithm compress them something like ADPCM) to the point that everyone sounds like they have a frog in their throat. The only saving grace of the whole mess is that I could listen to FOX NEWS on the drive in the morning if I wanted to spend the $10/month plus whatever else BS charge the local taxing authority can dream up to add on.
I have had Dishnetwork since 1998. They had growing pains also. The more I show XM to people in my GMC Envoy. The more people sign up. XM has made me want to drive for travel again. It will grow.
Does anyone know when XM and Sirius might have interoperability?
Trips in the car are wonderful, even when we get out of range of local stations, the XM is always there for us. We listen to Fox News, and even CNN. We have our choice of any type of music we want, from Country and Western to Broadway shows.
We love XM.
sw
I listen to FOX News on XM for about an hour a day at work, usually just to get Special Report. It's perfect for that. I can even get a perfect signal through the double-thick panes in our commercial high-rise. (although I am facing the right direction...)
They have 3.2 million subscribers and they lost $190 million in 3 months.
This means they're losing $20 per subscriber per month.
I love my XM to death, but I'll be darned if I can figure out how they're supposed to make any money.
One thing they can do is get rid of all the DJ's. If I wanted some yutz to talk over my music, I'd listen to FM.
Hope XM sticks through this for a while longer. I was just thinking to myself the other day after reading an ad in an old magazine that I should look into XM.
Dozens of channels of every type of music, talk ,etc. (the ad had 11 or 12 distinct Hard/Alterna/Classic Rock channels alone listed--YEA!), music by decade, music by theme, talk radio, sports, etc. Many of the channels were listed as commercial free, some as unedited (great for comedy and rap); it sure sounds like a winner to me.
If XM hold up for a few more months, I think I'm definately going to join up. Is it really as good as it sounds?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I guess it would interest me if I was in my car all the time, or was an audiophile.
I do like all the music channels I get with my DishTV subscription. All music and no chatter is nice, so I can see the attraction to XM. We live in the boonies and can't get cable, so it's nice to have.
I'm still kicking around whether to get XM or Sirius.