Thursday, July 06, 2006

Overall Softness in Retail Channel?

July 6, 2006

"........overall softness in the retail channel"

This statement has been made by XM Satellite Radio a couple of times this quarter, and many have attributed it to satellite radio as a whole, despite Sirius stating quite clearly that they were not seeing softness.

The subscriber numbers today seem to indicate that there was indeed softness for XM, and that Sirius did indeed not see that same problems.

Hugh Panero's Comments:

"As we previously indicated, subscriber growth in the second quarter was limited by product availability and overall softness in the retail channel," said Hugh Panero, President and CEO, XM Satellite Radio. "As we approach seven million subscribers, however, XM Satellite Radio remains one of the fastest growing consumer entertainment products."

There will certainly be debate over exactly why the gap in subscribers was this big, but reasonable people will come to realistic conclusions.