Sirius Satellite Radio added 600,460 net subscribers during the second quarter of 2006 to bring its total subscriber base to 4.7 million, the company announced July 6. Rival XM Satellite Radio added 398,000 subscribers during the same period, reaching 6.9 million subscribers, the company announced.
The second quarter additions marked a 64 percent gain for Sirius compared to the same period in 2005 but a slight decline from the 761,000 subscribers added in the first quarter of 2006.
XM’s 2006 second quarter additions trailed both previous periods. In the second quarter of 2005, the company added more than 640,000 subscribers and signed up 568,000 listeners in the first three months of 2006.
“As we previously indicated, subscriber growth in the second quarter was limited by product availability and overall softness in the retail channel,” Hugh Panero, president and CEO of XM, said in a statement.
