Sirius Satellite Radio enjoyed a second quarter with revenue and subscribers increasing by 51 percent and 53 percent, respectively, the broadcaster announced July 31. It attained record revenues of $226.4 million while adding more than 561,000 new subscribers to push total subscriptions to more than 7.1 million.

Those gains helped improve Sirius’ net loss by 44 percent, to $134.1 million for the second quarter of 2007 from $237.8 million for the second quarter of 2006.

New subscribers during the quarter outpaced XM Satellite Radio’s customers by nearly two-thirds for the period, as XM reported 338,000 new subscribers. It was the seventh straight quarter that Sirius outsold its rival and putative merger partner.

"Sirius, once again, posted solid results," said Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius. "Both revenue and subscriber growth exceeded 50 percent while operating expenses before stock-based compensation and depreciation grew only 6 percent.

"Momentum for the pending merger with XM continues to build," said Karmazin. "Support from our customers, suppliers and other groups representing a diverse cross-section of Americans, clearly demonstrates the public interest benefits and enhanced competition that will come from the merger.”

Pending the merger’s approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, Karmazin said he expects it to be completed by the end of the year.