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Posted: Thurs., Jul. 27, 2006, 6:44pm PT

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XM Satellite Radio continued to struggle in the second quarter as its net loss shot up 56% to $228 million and the company revised its projected subscriber growth down for the second time this year.

Investors took it all in stride, how-ever, as the stock closed up 5% for the day.

No. 1 sat radio provider's revenue rose 82% to $228 million, but costs were up across the board, particularly for programming. Seeking to keep up with competitor Sirius, which has a number of big names including How-ard Stern, XM has spent a lot on deals with Major League Baseball, Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey, who will launch her channel in September.

Blaming "marketplace dynamics" and "regulator uncertainties," XM said it now expects to end 2006 with be-tween 7.7 million and 8.2 million subscribers, up from the 6.9 million it had as of June 30. In May, satcaster downgraded its subscriber projection from 9 million to 8.5 million.