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XM Falls Behind Sirius in Canadian Satellite Radio Business

7:50 am on November 26, 2006 | Category: Business, Wireless Technology

A year after satellite radio was switched on in Canada, the countryâ€™s two leading satellite radio providers, XM and Sirius, continue to battle for customers, and so far, Sirius is well ahead.

The company, which still trails XM in the U.S. market, announced last week that it has built a user base of 200,000 paying subscribers on this side of the border. Compare that to a customer base of just 90,000 commanded by XM Canada.

Back in March, the two providers were still running neck and neck with 50,000 users each, but Sirius has managed to tip the scales significantly since that time, and is now outselling the competition at a rate of about 3 to 1, according to NPD Research and Digital Home.

XM Radio Canada will need to increase its monthly sales by an average of 150% to 200% if it hopes to attain its goal of having one million paying subscribers by the summer of 2010. This is looking like a more and more difficult proposition, especially now that the company has boosted its rates by 20%, and still provides less content than Sirius.

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