With satellite radio becoming the latest consumer electronics appliance that folks can't live without, Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) raised its revenue guidance yesterday. The company is now looking to rake in $230 million on the top line, $5 million more than it had previously announced.
It is another step forward for Sirius. XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:XMSR) and Sirius have frequently raised their subscriber and revenue targets since launching their digital radio services, while pushing back their timelines for profitability. That's because the service providers have been busy investing in costly programming deals. Sirius, for instance, has penned long-term, nine-figure deals with the NFL and Howard Stern.
Then again, without these exclusive content deals, satellite radio would not be growing so quickly despite holding firm to its monthly rates (XM's 30% hike earlier this year hasn't slowed it down a bit).
The NFL and Stern are expected to serve Sirius well. In fact, the company is looking to go from 2.1 million subscribers today to 3 million by the end of the year on the strength of those two deals. With so much of the overhead fixed in the satellite radio market, even a hefty programming deal can be overcome if enough subscribers sign up to get the content. That's why Sirius is expecting to generate positive free cash flow as early as next year's December quarter.
If so, satellite radio will become an even more formidable enemy to terrestrial radio biggies like Cumulus Media (NASDAQ:CMLS) and Clear Channel (NYSE:CCU). More subscribers means more cash available to fund even more aggressive deals to woo content away from free radio.
Tomorrow, I'll delve a bit deeper into the Sirius-NFL deal.
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a Sirius subscriber but he does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
