Sirius Satellite Radio announced Oct. 4 it added more than 359,000 new net subscribers to its subscription satellite radio service in the third quarter 2005, bringing its total subscribers to 2.2 million. The addition represents a 97 percent increase in new net subscribers compared to the 182,000 new net adds during the third quarter 2004.

“We continued to experience strong subscriber growth during the third quarter, which was the best third quarter in our history, and increased our market share from the year-ago quarter by more than 20 percent,” Mel Karmazin, Sirius CEO, said in a statement. “With the traditionally heavy holiday selling period coming up, we fully expect demand for our service to accelerate significantly through the remainder of the year.”

Sirius reiterated its projection of reaching 3 million subscribers by the end of 2005.