Replies to post #441909 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[extelecom]

Orvis, XMSR as well, was on Cramer last night...
"XM Chairman Speaks Out

Gary Parsons, chairman of XM Satellite Radio (XMSR:Nasdaq - news - research - Cramer's Take), joined Cramer by telephone. Parsons had taken issue with Cramer's recent comments that XM's subscriber numbers were "not as good as I would have liked."
Parsons said that contrary to the picture Cramer had painted, growth is not slowing. The seasonally strong fourth quarter will be the strongest ever, Parsons said. "We'll add roughly a million net new subscribers this quarter... and we're solidly maintaining our guidance for six million subscribers by the end of this year and 20 million [subscribers] by 2010."

Cramer asked how not signing big stars, like Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI:Nasdaq - news - research - Cramer's Take) has done with Howard Stern, is affecting XM's bottom line.

Parsons said XM has "the leadership in just about all the financial metrics." He added that XM has more conservative accounting than Sirius. "If we were counting subscribers the same way our friends do and giving one-year promotions instead of our three-month promotions, we'd have in excess of 6 million [subscribers] today."

"Will you beat Sirius to free cash flow profitability?" asked Cramer.

"I think that is likely to be the case," said Parsons. He added that both XM and Sirius should do well because satellite radio is an "addictive product."

Cramer summed up the interview saying he believes there is room for both XM and Sirius to succeed. "I'm blessing them both between here and year-end."

[madrose1]

Satellite-radio products threaten music industry-WSJ

Satellite-radio services XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI) are launching new receivers that can record music from satellite-radio broadcasts and manage the songs as if they had been bought individually. This is a threat to the music industry, which gets much lower fees for songs that are played on satellite radio than it does for songs that are purchased through download services or on CDs. The music labels are now looking to boost their rates for the right to play their music when the agreements for the satellite-radio companies expire next year.