New York –
said its subscriber base
recently passed the 20 million mark and that it has extended its broadcast and
marketing agreement with the NFL for another five years.
The company was silent on the
question of whether Howard Stern would renew his contract, which expires at the
end of the year.
“We have added the last 10 million
subscribers faster than the first 10 million — despite a tremendously
competitive environment — representing a strong endorsement of our service and
our programming by discerning consumers who want and demand the best in audio
entertainment,” said CEO Mel Karmazin.
The company previously announced
that for the three quarters ending September, Sirius XM added 1,089,417 net new
subscribers to reach a record 19,862,175 subscribers. At the time, the company
also forecast that it would end the year with a subscriber base of 20.1
million, up about 1.3 million from the
end of 2009, which marked satellite radio’s first-ever subscriber-base
contraction.
To mark the 20 million milestone,
Sirius XM will broadcast an exclusive Paul McCartney concert at the Apollo
Theater in New York City on Dec. 13.
As for other programming available
to subscribers, Sirius XM said its extended agreement with the NFL will enable
it to continue broadcasting every NFL game live from preseason through the
Super Bowl 2016 to Sirius subscribers and to XM subscribers who subscribe to the
Best of Sirius programming package. The agreement also maintains the Sirius NFL
Radio channel with round-the-clock NFL programming for Sirius subscribers and
XM subscribers with the Best of Sirius package.
In addition, for the first time, Sirius XM
will also broadcast NFL games online for its satellite-radio subscribers.
As the league’s official partner, Sirius
XM has rights to use the NFL shield logo and collective NFL team trademarks.
