Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. disclosed in a recent SEC filing that a hearing in the arbitration with U.S. Electronics is scheduled to start next month.

U.S. Electronics, which has most recently opposed the Sirius-XM merger, filed suit against Sirius last year seeking approximately $48 million in damages.

According to the most recent SEC filing, Sirius disclosed that U.S. Electronics is now seeking between $75 million and $110 million in damages.

The former distributor and manufacturer alleges that Sirius breached their contract; failed to pay monies owed; tortiously interfered with U.S. Electronics' relationships with retailers and manufacturers; withheld information relating to the FCC's inquiring into Sirius radios that include FM modulators... and otherwise acted in bad faith.

Sirius believes that a substantial portion of the damages sought by U.S. Electronics are barred by the limitation of liability provisions contained in their contract.

The hearing in this arbitration is scheduled to begin in March 2008, according to the filing.

Sirius will be offering unprecedented access the the first pastoral visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the United States from April 15th through April 20th.

The Catholic Channel (ch 159) will cover the first visit to the U.S. by a Pope since 1999 (it's also the first time the Pope has been to Washington since 1979). The channel will provide hourly updates with the latest news and information on the Pope's activities during his visit, live coverage of all the major events, and more.

Sirius will also dedicate multiple channels to the Pope's visit, to provide listeners with simultaneous access to Papal events, commentary, and rare archival recordings of Masses and speeches from historic Papal visits - which will include, among others, Pope John Paul II's 1995 address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Sirius and XM just announced that they will extend their agreement to merge until May 1st, 2008. Actually, the verbiage is that the companies "have agreed not to exercise their rights to terminate" but it means essentially the same thing.

The interesting thing is that they chose 2 months as their window of extension. One would hope that the extra time would be enough for the DOJ and FCC to come to a decision, but we thought the same thing back in December as well.

Either way, the saga continues...

Directed Electronics has begun shipping on its HONSC1 SiriusConnect adapter for Honda and Acura vehicles.

It may not look sexy, but that's because you'll never see. And for folks who want to convert their Honda or Acura stereos to Sirius (but want to retain their current setup), it's a gift from the Gods.

The HONSC1 SiriusConnect serves as a bridge between the proprietary databus of the Honda/Acura factory radio, and the SCC1 SiriusConnect Vehicle Tuner (sold separately). The result is a permanently installed system using your existing factory radio controls.

The HONSC1 can also be a portable solution, by substituting the SCVDOC1 vehicle dock instead of the SCC1. So you can then interface a plug-and-play receiver (like a Sportster 5 or Stiletto 2) with the factory radio. In other words: it's the best of both worlds.

Either way, now Honda/Acura owners who want Sirius can rejoice. The HONSC1 runs for an MSRP price of $99. Look for it at your favorite Sirius dealer.

Word has it that the Toyota / Lexus / Scion version will be available next week.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said on Thursday that data reported by the NPD Group has become increasingly less applicable in showing the company's retail sales performance.

"NPD data is less relevant today than it was five to three years ago," said CEO Nate Davis. "We no longer use NPD as a lead indicator in the after-market."

"We estimate that when we launched our service... NPD measured over 70% of XM's retail sales. In 2007, we estimate that NPD represents less than 40% of XM Satellite Radio's retail sales.

"Roughly 60% of our sales come from direct or non-NPD reporting channels."

The company told investors that a key focus for XM's aftermarket segment is to grow direct internet sales volume. Other retail opportunities include customer service sales and cross-selling promotions with automotive partners.

"XM has consciously worked to grow these more cost-effective means of retail distribution, which is one of the important reasons why our retail [subscriber acquisition] charges are well-managed and why our quarterly retail gross adds are consistently higher than NPD reporting outlets would suggest," said Davis.

In the fourth-quarter of last year, XM reported that it added 364,000 gross retail subscribers which resulted in an additions of 99,000 net retail subscriber to its base.

During Thursday's earnings call with investors, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said the company would have 10.3 million subscribers if they counted promotional subscribers when a new vehicle is manufactured.

"XM does not report promotional subscribers when a new vehicle is manufactured but only counts it as a subscriber when the vehicle is sold and when we have a paid subscription," said CEO Nate Davis. "So investors often ask for the number of XM-equipped vehicles that have been manufactured and shipped to dealers but not included in our subscriber numbers. This is the so-called parking lot subs number."

The company said that automotive partners report that XM-equipped vehicles reached 1.255 million at the end of 2007.

"In essence then, if XM included these unsold vehicles in its subscriber totals, then we would have a subscriber total of roughly 10.3 million," said Davis.

XM reported this morning that they ended 2007 with just over 9 million subscribers.

During Sirius Satellite Radio's earnings call earlier this week, CFO David Frear said that these so-called "parking lot subs" accounted for 11% of the company's subscriber base. Sirius said it ended 2007 with 8,321,785 subscribers.

"...the cars that have yet to sell through are about 11% of the base at the year end," said Frear to investors on Tuesday. "It is up slightly from the third quarter and up from the prior year end where I think it was about 9%."

Sirius counts these "parking lot" subscribers because they get paid for them, and so they include them in their metrics.

Still, the 10.3 million number may not be true comparison, as XM may not get paid for all of the 1.255 million unsold vehicles. XM receives payment from automakers such as GM and Honda, but they do not from others like Toyota, Hyundai and Nissan. Still, the latter are still ramping up in their penetration rate, so the "true" number is likely substantial regardless.

Davis didn't make this into an XM vs. Sirius moment though.

"This OEM growth story is true for both satellite radio providers," the CEO added. "In fact, with Sirius reporting 4.2 million gross additions in 2007 and XM having 4.5 million gross additions on a comparable basis, each company would have added the largest number of yearly gross additions in the history of either company."

[Transcripts via SeekingAlpha: XM, Sirius]

I don't want it to seem that I'm turning into a Jim Cramer fanboy (I'm not, he still annoys me on many levels), but I do love how he's gone on the offensive when it comes to the Sirius-XM merger.

Watch his full appearance on Jimmy Kimmel last night below, (or jump to 6:30 to see the merger-specific segment):




Favorite line: "these Congressmen come so cheap, one guy was like $6000 you could have [him]. We could just go down, you and me, and we could buy Congress."

[via Sirius XM News]
Thanks DJ Digital!

To update a previous article published today, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. actually spent $1.4 million to lobbyists in 2007.

Why the discrepancy? Because the Associated Press in their report (which I cited) only noted the disclosure made by Wiley Rein LLP. Sirius actually hired four additional lobbyists, which the AP did not report on.

Lobbyists are required to disclose any activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches under federal law.

Aside from Wiley Rein, which received the lionshare of lobbying expenditures (at $400k), Sirius also hired Paul Laxalt Group ($100k), Quinn Gillespi & Associates ($100k), Amani Group ($60k) and Richetti, Inc ($90k).

According to disclosure forms posted by the Senate's public records office, Sirius paid these firms a total of $750,000 in the second-half of 2007. Also, according to the Senate's public records office, Sirius spent $650,000 in the first-half of 2007 - the company had not hired the Amani Group until August.

In total, Sirius spent $1.4 million combined on these lobby groups in 2007.

View the additional disclosure forms for the 2nd half of 2007 after the jump...

If you're into trance, you're going to love this one. Sirius is giving three winners (and their friends) a trip down to South Beach to party it up at Sirius' Miami Meltdown '08.

Sirius' trance/progressive house channel, Area 33 (ch 33), will be broadcasting live from Club Nikki in Miami, where Paul Van Dyk (pictured), Paul Oakenfold, Stonebridge and other superstar DJs will be spinning the madness.

Winners will get airfare, hotel, and a meet 'n greet with Paul van Dyk. They'll also get VIP passes to Miami Meltdown '08.

You have until Noon ET on March 14th to enter, and there's no purchase necessary.

Visit TSS Radio for more details. Note: TSS Radio is a sponsor of Orbitcast (and I'm very grateful of that) but this was not a paid article.

Sirius Satellite Radio paid the firm Wiley Rein $820,000 last year to lobby Washington over its merger with XM.

The company paid $400,000 to Wiley Rein in the second half of 2007 to lobby Congress and the FCC, according to a disclosure form posted online (viewable after the jump). Sirius paid Wiley $420k in the first half of last year.

XM spent a total of $1.2 million in lobbying last year ($580k in both 1H07 and 2H07).

While that may seem like a lot of money, it's nothing compared to the NAB, who spent $4.3 million in the first-half of last year alone.

[AP]