Sirius Continues Run, Outperforms XM

Sirius said Thursday it had added 600,460 customers in the second quarter, up 64 percent from a year ago. The new adds were well above XM's numbers for the quarter; the company added some 398,000 customers, down 39 percent from last year.

The smaller satellite radio provider's impressive numbers continued to indicate the tables may have turned in the nascent market. Although still smaller than XM -- Sirius has 4.68 million customers to XM's 6.89 million -- the company has made up a lot of ground in the past several quarters by consistently posting better numbers.

It also might serve as a validation of Sirius' $500 million gamble on Howard Stern. While the company has had a run of good news, it's been the opposite for XM. The company recently warned that it would not meet its revenue and subscriber goals for the year.

Additionally, XM is also the subject of both an FTC investigation over its marketing practices, as well as an FCC inquiry into the FM transmission capabilities of several of its receivers. In its most recent quarter, the provider also lamented issues with "product availability and overall softness in the retail channel."

Even with the recent bout of bad news, things may turn around for XM soon. Beginning in August, the network will play host to a 24-hour channel programmed by Oprah Winfrey.

The venerable talk show stalwart has been proven to be a great marketer as well: Oprah's book club, has sold millions of books for a number of authors and is frequently highlighted on her popular talk show. XM may be betting on similar treatment after the programming debuts.