XM Satellite Radio, which previously had stopped short of forecas...

and other senior executives said they revised the projection because of strong subscription growth in the quarter, a strong 4th-quarter product mix and the strength of its programming package. XM programming got a boost in a separate announcement Thurs. that controversial shock jocks Opie & Anthony will be carried on a premium XM channel for an additional $1.99 monthly beginning Oct. 4. The XM “infrastructure provides the perfect platform for edgy radio talk-show personalities,” Panero said. XM boasted it had added 1.4 million subscribers the past 12 months and claimed an 81% share of total activated subscriptions in satellite radio. As of June 30, it had 2,100,352 subscribers, having added 418,449 in the quarter -- double the number added in the year-earlier period. XM will recover about $142 million in insurance payments after reaching a settlement agreement in July with insurers over a solar array degradation problem that has drastically cut the life expectancy of its 2 orbiting satellites, the company said in an 8-K report filed at the SEC. The settlement covered 80% of the claims made under policies in which the satellites were insured for $400 million against “constructive total loss,” minus any “salvage value,” the 8-K said. The company already has collected a significant portion of the $142 million, with most of the remainder expected by the end of Aug., it said. XM will go to arbitration, seeking to recover money under the remaining 20% of its claims. Plans still call for XM’s 2 existing satellites to be collocated in one orbital slot with the launch of its ground spare (XM-3). The XM-3 launch had been planned for late 2004, but may spill into early 2005, depending when a launch vehicle becomes available, the 8-K said.