Sirius dialing up 6 mil subs

Company strides into the black

By BEN FRITZ

Satcaster Sirius ended 2006 right in line with its recently revised estimates, breaking the 6 million subscriber mark and reaching its first cash-flow-positive quarter.

While it didn't give any indication of where its net income will end up, however, company is still expected to end the last quarter of 2006 substantially in the red. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, it lost $167.1 million.

Sirius had 6.024 million subs as of Dec. 31, in line with a downgraded estimate of 5.9 million-6.1 million it issued in early December. Previously, it had been looking to amass 6.3 million subs by the end of the year.

Hitting positive free cash flow, however, is a step forward for the company, which had cautioned investors that it was only a possibility.

Competitor XM was aiming to end 2006 with between 7.7 million and 7.9 million subscribers. It hasn't yet released figures.

The two companies reportedly are in talks about merging in hopes of stemming their consistently large losses.

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