Hours after XM told a CES news conference Wed. that it was the ‘big...
Hours after XM told a CES news conference Wed. that it was the “big dog” of satellite radio (CD Jan 6 p8), Sirius challenged the claim in its own news conference to point out it had the faster growth…
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rate. Although XM had 3.3 million subscribers at year-end to 1.1 million at Sirius, over 44,000 new Sirius subscriptions were activated Christmas Day compared to 50,000 at XM, Sirius said, adding that Sirius subscription growth in 2004 was up 300% from the year earlier. “Yes, we are the big dog in satellite radio,” said Chmn. Joseph Clayton. “Let the big dog hunt.” New CEO Mel Karmazin predicted Sirius would double subscriptions this year. Like Clayton, he said Sirius was “the fastest-growing in the satellite radio space” because it leads rival XM in “oh, wow” programming content. Anticipation of Howard Stern’s Jan. 2006 Sirius debut will be “huge,” Karmazin said, producing higher awareness of the Sirius brand and more subscribers.