Sirius Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) has released its first quarter earnings for the three months ending March 31, showing a year-on-year increase in revenue of 61 percent to $204 million. Other good figures include an increase in subscriber growth of 556,490 to around 6.6 million users and a reduction in the company’s net loss of 68 percent year-on-year to $144.7 million. Sirius claimed 66 percent of satellite radio customers in the US—which is likely to improve after the merger with XM.

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Advertising revenue was $6.7 million during the first quarter and average monthly revenue per subscriber (or “ARPU”) was $10.46, with average monthly subscriber churn coming in at 2.3 percent.

Sirius saw its programming and content expenses increase $7.2 million to $57.1 million for Q1, primarily due to license fees associated with new programming. Revenue share and royalties increased $13.6 million to $27.1 million for the quarter, primarily due to an increase in the OEM subscriber base and higher revenue.

For its full year guidance Sirius estimated revenue approaching $1 billion, more than 8 million subscribers, and churn of 2.2-2.4 percent.

Earnings Release