XM Satellite loss widens

NEW YORK (Reuters) - XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc (XMSR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a wider first-quarter loss on Monday as costs to lure and retain subscribers rose.

XM, which is awaiting regulatory approval of its proposed merger with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (SIRI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said its first-quarter net loss was $129 million, or 42 cents per share. That compared with $122 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier.

Its loss excluding merger-related expenses appeared to be in line with the average analyst forecast of 41 cents, according to Reuters Estimates, but it was not immediately clear if the numbers were directly comparable.

Revenue rose 17 percent to $308 million, which was lower than the average analyst forecast of $313 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Washington-based XM, whose program lineup includes Major League Baseball and Oprah Winfrey, added about 303,000 net new subscribers and ended the quarter on March 31 with 9.33 million subscribers compared with 7.91 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2007.

XM said the average cost of adding each subscriber, a measure known as subscriber acquisition cost (SAC), rose to $73 in the first quarter from $65 a year earlier. Cost per gross addition, which includes SAC as well as marketing costs, declined to $99 from $103.

Its churn rate, a measure of subscribers that quit the service, held at 1.8 percent.

Sirius is expected to report its quarterly results later on Monday.

The results come as the two companies await the opinion of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, after the U.S. Department of Justice approved the deal in March. XM and Sirius hope to convince regulators that the deal would provide consumers with more choice in radio programming and could lead to lower prices in some cases.