Sirius XM raises 2012 guidance to 1.8 M subscribers

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Mel KarmazinSirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin made the announcement at Liberty Media’s annual investor day, which is in the process of taking control of the satcaster. Sirius XM reported net subscriber additions were 445,921 in Q3.  Sirius XM ended the quarter with a record 23,365,383 subscribers.  The company is raising its net subscriber additions guidance to 1.8 million for 2012 from its previous guidance of 1.6 million.


“These strong net additions produced our best third quarter since the merger and exceeded third quarter 2011 subscriber growth by 34%,” said Karmazin. “With almost 1.5 million net subscribers already added in 2012 and continuing growth in auto sales, we will significantly exceed our previous guidance of 1.6 million, marking our third increase in subscriber guidance this year and putting us on track for record post-merger net additions.”

Liberty currently owns 49.5% of SiriusXM and will likely take control of the company soon. It filed an FCC de jure application and a 30-day public notice period began 10/2 and its plan is to exercise control when approved.

Karmazin talked up satellite radio during his presentation, emphasizing that it’s a better business that traditional radio and Internet radio. It makes us still wonder why he’d be leaving after the transaction.

“It is our belief that terrestrial radio will probably continue to decrease over the next five years – satellite radio will continue to grow,” Karmazin said at the event. “Obviously, our subscription model is an important part of the advantages. Karmazin also said Sirius XM boasts has some 90% of the country’s subscription music biz, with 22.9 million paying subscribers compared with 4 million for Spotify, 1.1 million for Pandora and 1 million for Rhapsody.