Undisclosed number of Sirius subscribers may not exist…
According to a very interesting article over at thestreet.com, Sirius Satellite Radio may be padding their subscriptions with bloated automobile-unit numbers. On the record, they’ve sold an additional 349,000 vehicle units, largely thanks to deals with some major automobile manufacturers, but liberal bookkeeping lets Sirius claim a sale as soon as a Sirius-equipped vehicle hits the dealership.
Sirius’ practice means the company can “call it a sub, even if it is sitting under water on a dealer’s lot in New Orleans,” says one investor who sold Sirius and holds XM.
Check out the full article here.
XM still leads Sirius by about 3 million subscribers and has been rated to outperform for its investors. It is their policy to wait until a radio unit has actually been activated before they count it as a subscriber.
October 19th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
[...] No word yet weather Sirius will be counting every set-top box in existance as subscibers. [...]