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XM and Sirius satellite radio services hit their subscriber forecasts in 2005, Brandweek reports. XM Satellite Radio added 2.7 million subscribers in 2005 to end the year with more than 6 million. Sirius Satellite Radio added 2.1 million subscribers to end the year with 3.3 million subscribers.
While XM signed up more subscribers over the year, Howard Stern’s move to Sirius showed signs of tipping the balance.
XM signed up 900,000 new subscribers during the fourth quarter.
RadioInk reports that Sirius added 1,142,640 net new subscribers for an increase of 138 percent over the year-ago quarter. Sirius says it was their best ever quarterly gain.
Adding those subscribers earns Stern a big payday, Billboard Radio Monitor reports. Sirius revealed Thursday in an SEC filing that its subscriber total at the end of 2005 exceeded the subscriber target it agreed upon when it contracted with Stern. Exceeding that target triggered the issuance of 34,375,000 shares to Stern and his agent. Sirius said those shares were then valued at about $110 million.
The shares are now worth $219 million, The New York Times reports.
“Howard Stern is a business,” Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said. “Sirius is paying, in essence, a license fee for what is a large and successful business.”
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