XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. posted a larger loss as higher programming and marketing cost offset revenue gains, the company said Feb. 16.

XM posted a loss of $666.7 million in 2005, compared to a net loss of $642.4 million in 2004. Revenue jumped 128 percent from $244.4 million in 2004 to $558.3 million in 2005, driven by subscriber growth and increases in average revenue per subscriber in connection with price increase implemented in the second quarter of 2005.

Subscriber acquisition cost (SAC) was $64 in 2005, up slightly from $62 in 2004. XM attributed the increase to higher marketing expenses to counter the addition of Howard Stern by rival Sirius Satellite Radio. XM expects the costs to decrease in 2006.

XM finished 2005 with 5.9 million subscribers and crossed the 6 million mark in early January and expects to exceed 9 million subscribers by the end of 2006 and reach 20 million by 2010.

While the numbers looked relatively strong, company director, Pierce Roberts, resigned from the board because he was “troubled” about XM’s direction, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a Feb. 13 letter to Gary Parsons, XM’s chairman, Roberts said, “For some time I have made my analyses and observations known in an increasingly vociferous manner to the board and a number of senior managers of the company. I am not having any useful effect and I care too much and believe in my own views too much to just ‘go along.’

“Given current course and speed there is, in my view, a significant chance of a crisis on the horizon. Even absent a crisis, I believe that XM will inevitably serve its shareholders poorly without major changes now. It is clear to me that I cannot be part of the solution and I will not be part of the problem.”