NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Mel Karmazin said on Thursday that holiday sales were strong, but might fall short of last year's record new subscriptions that came before shock jock Howard Stern's move to the company's lineup from terrestrial radio.
"Business is very strong, very good," Karmazin told the Reuters Media Summit in New York. But he added: "We have a very difficult comparison this fourth quarter."
Karmazin said that during the last holiday season, Sirius signed up about 500,000 subscribers in just 10 days, a phenomenon dubbed the "Stern" effect. Stern's channels on Sirius officially launched in mid-January.
Sirius, No. 2 in the nascent pay radio market to rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. XMSR.O, signed up 1.1 million subscribers overall during last year's fourth quarter.
"Assuming that we have a very good last 10 days, then we'll be just fine," Karmazin said. "If in fact, God forbid, we don't, December will go from being what we hope it will be, which will be the very best month in our history, to the second-best month. But no matter what, it's amazingly strong."
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