satellite radio taking off
ars technica explores the satellite radio boom. it’s not a huge boom (yet) – sirius ended 2002 with just under 30, 000 subscribers, xm ended 2002 with just under 350, 000, so that’s a 380,000-subscriber base. at $10/month, it makes a $45.6 million/year business, with huge sunk costs on infrastructure.
what’s notable is the growth – xm went from 28,000 to 350,000 subscribers during 2003, and is making a push to get to a million by the end of this year… there’s a lot to chew on here, but i think this is a strong validation for the passive listener model.