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Loss Widens at XM Satellite Radio
ABC News / AP ^ | Feb 10, 2005 | SETH SUTEL - AP

Posted on 02/10/2005 1:30:50 PM PST by t_skoz

Loss Widens at XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite Radio Reports Wider Net Loss for Fourth Quarter, Despite Adding Subscribers

Feb 10, 2005 — XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. reported a wider net loss for the fourth quarter of 2004 on Thursday as the company bulked up on new subscribers, adding more than 700,000 in the latest quarter to top 3.2 million users.

XM, which is based in Washington, D.C., reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $190.4 million for the last three months of 2004, more than the loss of $170.2 million reported in the comparable period a year ago.

The per-share loss calculations, however, fell to 93 cents in the latest period from $1.12 a year ago because of an increase in the number of shares outstanding. The loss was smaller than the $1.02 per share that analysts polled by Thomson First Call had been expecting.

Revenues more than doubled in the latest quarter to $83.1 million from $33.5 million in the year-ago period. The revenues were also above the $80.5 million that analysts had been expecting.

XM has been spending heavily on programming and marketing to build up its service as it competes with rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. Both companies have been signing deals with automakers to install their devices in new cars, and both are also signing multimillion dollar deals for programming, including Major League Baseball for XM and Howard Stern for Sirius.

XM said it cost the company a total of $100 to add each new subscriber in 2004, down from $137 in 2003. The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it expected to break even on a cash flow basis in 2006, and that it expects to have subscription revenues of $480 million in 2005. The company also said it expects to have 5.5 million subscribers at the end of this year.

Last month Sirius reported that it ended 2004 with more than 1.1 million subscribers and expected to finish 2005 with more than 2.5 million. Sirius is being run by Mel Karmazin, a longtime radio executive who departed last year as the president and chief operating officer of media giant Viacom Inc., the owner of CBS and MTV.

XM's stock was up 28 cents at $31.68 in midday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, about in the middle of its 52-week range of $20.35 to $40.89.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: radio; satellite; satelliteradio; xm
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1 posted on 02/10/2005 1:30:50 PM PST by t_skoz
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To: t_skoz

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.


2 posted on 02/10/2005 1:31:42 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: t_skoz; Andrewksu; bmwcyle; BurbankKarl; Paraclete; ncpatriot; amadeus; Constitution Day; ...

XM Radio Ping list! FR-mail me to get added to or removed from this ping list.

3 posted on 02/10/2005 1:32:31 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: t_skoz

Bummer -- I have XM and love it! A great service, but they need more subscribers -- they cannot raise the monthly rate of $10.00. They will go bust if they try that.

Darn.


4 posted on 02/10/2005 1:33:35 PM PST by EagleUSA
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To: t_skoz

No one expected either of these to make instant money. But I do believe they will be VERY profitable in the future.


5 posted on 02/10/2005 1:35:11 PM PST by LS (CNN is the Amtrak of news (there is no c in Amtrak and no truth in MSM news))
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To: t_skoz
Loss Widens at XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite's loss shrinks

I must be missing something.

6 posted on 02/10/2005 1:36:47 PM PST by granite (WHY ARE WE IN IRAQ?)
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To: granite

Me too.
Which is it?


7 posted on 02/10/2005 1:38:17 PM PST by RushCrush (If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement. - Reagan)
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To: t_skoz

please ping me


8 posted on 02/10/2005 1:38:25 PM PST by granite (WHY ARE WE IN IRAQ?)
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To: RushCrush; granite

Not too sure what's up with that, which is why I posted them on the same thread as opposed to 2 seperate threads!


9 posted on 02/10/2005 1:42:45 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: granite

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

Mark Twain


10 posted on 02/10/2005 1:42:51 PM PST by B-bone
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To: granite

you've been added to the list...


11 posted on 02/10/2005 1:42:58 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: granite
The per-share loss calculations, however, fell to 93 cents in the latest period from $1.12 a year ago because of an increase in the number of shares outstanding. The loss was smaller than the $1.02 per share that analysts polled by Thomson First Call had been expecting.

The loss is distributed over a wider number of outstanding shares as compared to last year. So the total loss is greater, but the per share loss is lower.

12 posted on 02/10/2005 1:45:26 PM PST by kaboom
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To: t_skoz

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.


13 posted on 02/10/2005 1:54:10 PM PST by Gaffer
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To: EagleUSA
A great service, but they need more subscribers -- they cannot raise the monthly rate of $10.00. They will go bust if they try that.

Huh? Sirius is $13 per month.

14 posted on 02/10/2005 1:54:14 PM PST by glock rocks ( WYGIWYG)
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To: t_skoz

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.


15 posted on 02/10/2005 2:01:58 PM PST by bmwcyle (Washington DC RINO Hunting Guide)
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To: Gaffer

None of the music channels I listen to on XM have any commercials. They hardly even have DJ's.

Yes, when you listen to Fox News or ABC Talk or whatever, they're going to have commercials but that's a downfall of the channel, not XM.

Sorry you don't like it! I have nothing but good stuff to say about my XM!


16 posted on 02/10/2005 2:03:34 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: EagleUSA

What is the attraction of the XM radio? I don't have one, a couple of friends do. I enjoy my CD changer as much as listening to the XM. There must be something to it. Maybe I just don't fit the profile.


17 posted on 02/10/2005 2:04:39 PM PST by BJungNan (Please stand by while I think up a new one...)
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To: granite

Simple really. A widening loss is the same as a shrinking loss, only different.


18 posted on 02/10/2005 2:04:53 PM PST by ladtx ( "Remember your regiment and follow your officers." Captain Charles May, 2d Dragoons, 9 May 1846)
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To: bmwcyle

I take monthly trips from Western NY to Boston, and frequent trips from WNY to Detroit, Washington DC, NYC, Toronto, etc.

XM is awesome for 6 hours in the car. In some parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio, there's only the "3 C's" to listen to... Christian, Country, or Crap.

;-)


19 posted on 02/10/2005 2:06:04 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: t_skoz

Does anyone know when XM and Sirius might have interoperability?


20 posted on 02/10/2005 2:06:17 PM PST by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant")
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