Sirius Satellite Radio narrowed its loss in the third quarter as it continued to add subscribers and said it still hopes to close its deal to combine with XM Satellite Radio Holdings by the end of the year, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said the New York-based company lost $120.1 million in the three months ended September 30, compared with a loss of $162.9 million, in the same period a year ago.
The loss was in line with analysts' forecasts on Thomson Financial, but jittery investors sent Sirius' stock down 8.9% to $3.29 in heavy trading as the market absorbed the latest data about Sirius' subscriber growth, the report said.
Revenues rose 45% to $241.8 million from $167 million a year ago, slightly short of analysts' estimates of $244.3 million, the report further said.
Sirius added 524,938 net subscribers to finish the quarter with 7.7 million, 50 % more than a year ago, and said it expects to finish the year with more than 8 million. XM has 8.6 million subscribers.
The report further said both XM and Sirius have been adding more new customers from units that come pre-installed in new cars, but investors have been concerned about a continued weakening of retail sales of satellite radios.