Sirius Satellite quarterly net loss narrows

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc, which plans to merge with rival XM Satellite Radio, said on Monday its quarterly net loss narrowed on increased revenues from new subscribers to its pay radio service.

Sirius, whose acquisition of XM still awaits the approval of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, reported a first-quarter net loss of $104.1 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $144.7 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue at Sirius, the satellite radio home of shock jock Howard Stern and the National Football League, climbed 33 percent to $270.4 million.

Analysts had expected a loss of 7 cents a share, on revenue of $271.8 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

The New York-based company added 322,534 net subscribers and ended the quarter with about 8.6 million, up 31 percent from 6.6 million one year ago.

The cost of adding new customers decreased to $91 for each gross subscriber from $101 for the first quarter of 2007. The company attributed the decrease to lower per-unit subsidies and a higher average retail selling price.

The results come as the two companies await the opinion of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, after the U.S. Department of Justice approved the deal in March. XM and Sirius hope to convince regulators that the deal would provide consumers with more choice in radio programming and could lead to lower prices in some cases.

Shares of Sirius eased to $2.83 after the bell on Monday, after closing up 14 cents at $2.87 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul, editing by Richard Chang)