Both SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ : SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ : XMSR) have released some subscriber information in regards to Canada. Sirius has announced they have surpassed 200,000 subscribers in Canada, while XM Radio Canada has passed 90,000 subscribers. By comparing these two tidbits of information you can begin to see that Sirius is poised to take complete control of the Canadian marketplace. By converting these figures into percentages, Sirius controls approx 70% of the market. Meanwhile in the United States, XM continues to hold on to the market share lead but Sirius has been experiencing larger growth as of late. Sirius is slowly but steadily catching up to XM, and this will continue to happen since Sirius has been putting a lot of effort into increasing the quality of their programming.
I have a feeling that the upcoming NASCAR deal will help to increase the number of American Sirius subscribers but it won’t have much effect on the Canadian numbers. NASCAR just isn’t going to be a major selling point in the Canadian market. For Sirius to continue to keep up their lead, they need to promote the fact that their service has more variety, and higher quality programming. Sirius also needs to keep up their visibility in Canada; their advertising at CFL games was a very good idea! All I want now from Sirius, is a 24 hour-a-day NHL channel to get my hockey news without having to listen to other sports news.