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The corporate merger of the satellite radio giants Sirius and XM formally took place in 2008. On Wednesday, a remapped channel lineup should make the two networks finally feel more cohesive for listeners.
With some exceptions, subscribers who tune in to SiriusXM Radio should find that many channel numbers have changed. In a statement on its Web site, the company explained that the changes were undertaken “so that the array of programming choices we offer will be grouped together based on their genre or content type.”
SiriusXM has published a full guide to the channel shift here. The update should automatically download to subscribers’ radios on Wednesday.
According to Patrick Reilly, a company spokesman, SiriusXM has more than 20 million paid subscribers. While he did not say how many of those subscribers use the service in vehicles versus in hand-held devices and home-unit receivers, the company reported last year that “our primary means of distributing satellite radios is through the sale and lease of new vehicles.”
There has been speculation about the health of the satellite radio company, as competition for the in-car infotainment space has ramped up in recent years, particularly as automakers begin to bundle free Internet radio applications into their telematics systems.

But on Tuesday, the company reported that it added subscribers in the first quarter of 2011. “Consumers are buying cars again, and demand for our product is strong,” Mel Karmazin, the company’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Were it not for the (manufacturing) supply chain uncertainty resulting from the tragedy in Japan, we would be in a position to raise our subscriber guidance today.”
The new channel lineup more closely resembles the current Sirius channel list, populated in the lower end by pop music and rock, and book-ended with sports and talk programming.
Howard Stern, the marquee name on the lineup, remains at channels 100 and 101. Meanwhile, the Bruce Springsteen-centric “E Street Band” channel on Sirius moves from number 10 to 20, and the grunge “Lithium” channel migrates from 24 to 34.
For listeners who use present buttons to locate stations, SiriusXM says that presets “should automatically ‘follow’ any channels that you’ve preset to their new locations.”

Is Sirius XM Worth $2.50?

Wall Street continues to draw new lines in the sand when it comes to Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI  ) . Standard & Poor's analyst Tuna Amobi is the latest to revise his price target on the satellite radio giant higher. He is sticking to his buy rating, but bumping his near-term price goal from $2 to $2.50.
This isn't pocket change. Sirius XM has 6.5 billion shares outstanding now that Liberty Capital's (Nasdaq: LCAPA  ) 40% preferred share stake is in the profitable mix. Amobi's arguing that the company is worth $3.25 billion more than he thought before yesterday's conference call.
CEO Mel Karmazin's dangling the likelihood of an upcoming subscription rate increase was enough to send shares off to a fresh two-year high yesterday. Given the largely fixed overhead at Sirius XM, any additional subscription revenue will be like a Twinkie to a dieting worrywart -- it'll go right to the bottom. Sirius XM has enough in tax loss carryforwards to offset years of pretax profits. If Sirius is able to squeeze another $2 a month out of every subscriber, we're talking about nearly $500 million given its current base of 20.6 million accounts.
Testing its pricing elasticity naturally has its risks.
There are two arguments to consider. On the bearish side, there were nearly 6.4 million Sirius XM cancellations last year. A service can't be too cocky when nearly a third of its base deactivates their receivers in any given year.
On the bullish side, last year's defections were more than offset by the gross addition of nearly 7.8 million radio fans. Save for a two-quarter spell during the first half of 2009, Sirius has always found a way to attract more listeners than those leaving. It was also during this span of time that Sirius XM raised its rates for secondary receivers and began charging for Internet streaming, but the net cancellations were likely a recessionary reaction. The automotive industry was also in a funk, and that's certainly not the case now. Leading showroom operator AutoNation (NYSE: AN  ) may have lowered its vehicle sales outlook recently, but not enough to get in the way of the millions of quarterly car buyers who may be wooed by free satellite radio trial offers.
Getting to $2.50 won't be easy, but it's clearly possible if Sirius XM's inevitable rate boost is well received by its subscribers.
Is Sirius XM's market cap of $13 billion at a share price of $2, or more than $16 billion at $2.50, high or low? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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