New York – Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., operator of the second-largest pay-radio service, lowered its year-end subscriber forecast by as much as 6.3 percent after holiday shoppers snubbed pay radios for other high-end electronics.
Subscribers at year-end will be 5.9 million to 6.1 million, below the 6.3 million the company predicted Nov. 8, New York- based Sirius said Monday in a statement.
Sales since the Thanksgiving weekend “have not been at the pace we had anticipated,” Sirius said. Consumer focus on flat-screen television sets has eclipsed some of the demand for satellite radio from Sirius and its larger rival, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Thomas Eagan said.
“Retail is all about flat-screen TVs now, less about satellite radio,” Eagan, who has a buy rating on Sirius shares and doesn’t own any, said in an interview.
Shares of both companies fell after the announcement. Sirius fell 17 cents to $4 in extended trading after slipping 8 cents in regular Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. XM fell 40 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $14.21.
XM, based in Washington, has cut subscriber estimates twice this year.
