XM has now eclipsed the 6.5 million mark. The press release is here
What else can you say…very nice going XM !!!
Ryan S. @ Orbitcast posted a link to a thread going on over @ XM Fan that Ryan M. started. If you click through over to XM Fan you’ll see the XM Bulletin there and if you read the info there he mentions that XM will be matching the commercial content versions of Nashville, Mix, Kiss, and Sunny with non-commercial versions of the stations.
That’s interesting and funny as hell all at once. With this in mind who in their right mind is going to listen to those commercial stations except some execs over @ Clear Channel. I guess this is XM’s idea of spitting in the face of Clear Channel. As long as its not compromising bandwidth (and I dont think E-Lo is) this is a stroke of genius. Talk about making the best of a bad situation….I like it 
Stumbled upon a nice article over @ Forbes I haven’t seen too many positive wrietups of Satellite Radio as of late. I feel that alot of the analysts just dont get what its all about. Maybe I dont understand their slant…but yet I do. I know its time for Satellite Radio to start showing profits, which is what this write up is about.
Anyways…very nice writeup from an analyst who seems to get what XM has to offer.
Well as many of you know today XM Satellite Radio had an earnings report call that got a ton of press today. The official press release is here.
Here’s a quick lowdown of the press release:
- XM added more than 2.7 million net subscribers, to more than double subscription revenue to $503 million.
- XM expects to be cash-flow positive in the fourth quarter of 2006 with $806 million in subscription revenue, and expect to exceed 9 million subscribers by the end of 2006 as well
- By 2010, XM Satellite Radio is expecting to have more than 20 million subscribers.
- XM ended 2005 with 5,932,957 subscribers, an increase of 84 percent over 2004.
- XM achieved net subscriber additions of 898,315. Later than expected activations from strong holiday sales brought the total to more than six million during the first week of January.
On the downside Pierce Roberts who sat on XM Radio’s Board of Directors resigned today, so perhaps we’ll see some changes @ the executive level. I think as long as XM is cash positive by the end of the year they’ll be looking good.
Well I’m sure you’ve all heard the news by now. Oprah is coming to XM. Here are some details of the deal. The deal is for $18 million/year for 3 years. Hugh Panero also stated today that this deal would only need 145,000 subscriptions to pay for itself. The info on XM’s site is located here
Panero also stated today that there wouldn’t be anymore huge deals like this on the horizon. There isn’t any part of this deal I don’t like. This is a huge signing. This will definitely bring a ton subscriptions XM’s way. Its not costing them a mint to do this either. Yes its not a signing like Howard or is it ? I really think it is. Oprah has such a huge following, much bigger than Howard does. I guess the operative question is will her legion of followers come on over XM. If this gets plugged properly on TV and XM promotes her the way I know they will I think her new channel will just be viral.
Awesome signing by XM and I gotta say probably the most significant signing yet. Can’t wait to see how this plays out, but I honestly cant see anything bad coming out of this…everyone’s a winner on this one.
XM Satellite Radio has scheduled a conference call on Thursday, February 16, 2006, at 10am ET to announce and discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2005 financial results. You can catch the webcast .
This should be an interesting call with the pounding the stock has taken lately. I’m very curious to hear how XM is responding to the short sellers. Personally, I think that’s what is killing the stock. I guess its time to just wait and see.
The last XM2Go2 device I waited to talk about because it was such a big hit @ CES. It won The Peoples Choice Award @ CES. This is really big news and will add alot of exposure to the satellite radio market as a whole as well as XM Satellite Radio. Here’s the skinny on the Pionner Inno:
XM Press Release is here
XM Product Page is here
Features:
- Full-color, 180 X 180 pixels TFT display
- 50 hours of recordable programming
- Flash memory storage for MP3/WMA files and XM content
- User Friendly Interface
- Personal playlists using a mix of XM content and tracks from their own digital music collection
- Memory buffer to make it easy to store an entire track heard in XM, even if the user starts storing it in the middle of a song
- Ticker and Tune Select
MSRP for all you early adopters out there is $399, but WOW….this thing looks amazing and winning the people’s choice is no small feat. There were some excellent products this year @ CES. This device is sooooo cool. The only thing I think they really missed is not integrating XM Passport with the device, but with a device like this what else do you really need. This device will no doubt this will be very hot commodity when its released and for quite sometime. The CES has really shown the world what a great product line XM has come out with as well as showing everything XM has to offer. I think that 9 million subscriptions by years end is not out of the question at all.
Once again congrats to everyone @ XM Satellite Radio for everything they’ve shown us the past week I cant even fathom the amount of work that has gone into all the work they’ve done and also for making the XM Nation a better place.
Another addition to XM2Go second generation receivers. Here’s the skinny:
XM Press Release is here
XM Product Page is here
Features:
- Live XM Satellite Radio when docked in a home or car docking station
- Memory storage for XM content, MP3s, and .wmas for portable listening; NEXUS 25 stores up to 25 hours of XM content, and NEXUS 50 stores up to 50 hours of XM content
- XM + Napster feature that allows users to bookmark the names of songs heard on XM, connect the Helix player to the PC, and purchase the bookmarked tracks instantly from the XM + Napster online service.
- Easy-to-use interface, which lets users save and delete content, create personal playlists, and find and play back their favorite songs
- The ability to store XM content by song, by channel, or by scheduled session
- Ability to create unique playlists with a mix of XM content and personal music collection
- Category list for saving and accessing favorite channels
- TuneSelect, which alerts the listener to a favorite artist or song whenever it is played on any XM channel
- Integrated, wireless FM transmitter for beaming XM to any FM radio frequency.
Dimensions are approximately 4.5 ounces and measures approximately 3.7 inches high, 2.2 inches wide, and 0.6 inch deep. The unit will also include the new XM Passport mini-receiver so with one subscription you can play on multiple units. It will retail for $249 if you want to gold 50 hours of content or 25 hours will run $199. Car kit sold separately.
The Nexus looks like a pretty cool unit. My only complaint about what I’ve seen thus far is that the Nexus does not include TuneSelect or the tickers. It’s still a very impressive feature set as well as being very economical. The thing this is perfect for is someone who wants a portable unit as well as a nice receiver desktop receiver @ home that pull from one subscription. I can totally see myself doing this. I’m absoultely drooling over the new Crosley Receiver I think this may be the unit for me but let’s see what else comes down the pike !!!!
Here’s some more info yet another XM2Go2 unit. This one is by Samsung called Helix.
XM Press Release is here
XM Product Page is here
Features:
- Stores your favorite XM channels at home, in the car or on the go
- Mix stored XM with your MP3s and CDs
- Compatible with XMNapster Service
- Color and larger screen
- 50 Hours of storage !!!
-Price $399
All I gotta say is WOW !!!! (again) This unit is has everything one could ever want in a portable Satellite Radio and more. The big question I have that I guess can’t sufficiently be answered until this is out there (which will be by Spring) is what will the reception be like on the go. With the size of the antenna I would think it would be pretty darn good and the dimensions of the unit are like cell phone size as well. This unit doesnt seem to be lacking too much. I’m sure these will be flying off the shelves. Very very impressive !!!!
Just an FYI….Hugh Panero CEO of XM Satellite Radio will be appearing on Kudrow and Company on CNBC tommorrow @ 5 PM. Guest list is here