Bridge Ratings has traditionally been showing very positive trend numbers for SIRIUS Satellite Radio over the past few quarters, and rightfully so as SIRIUS has done an absolutely incredible job of adding new subscribers - much of that is due to Howard Stern.

The question on many people's minds, investor's and industry watchers alike, is whether this growth is sustainable. Sure, no one expects the hoards of people to continue signing up at the rate they were doing in Q4 and Q1, but exactly how much influence does Stern have for a long-term effect? Bridge attempts to answer this.

Bridge Ratings estimates that a total of 8.4% of Stern's terrestrial audience (not a small amount mind you - that's 1.1 million listerners) have made the move to satellite radio. For the remaining listeners though, Bridge noted that there's "an apparent apathy for future subscriptions" and that The Stern Effect seen during their satellite radio trends from 4Q05 through 1Q06, "has virtually stalled."

Bridge Ratings asked 3,200 Stern listeners 18+ between April 1 and May 8, "why haven't you yet subscribed to Sirius satellite radio?", these are their responses:

Bridge Ratings is also projecting that over the last ten weeks 1,142,312 additional satellite radio subscriptions have occurred at the retail level and that since early April, the retail subscriptions have swung in favor of XM after being dominated by SIRIUS.

I'm curious to see if this continues (or changes) as new devices, from both XM and SIRIUS, are unveiled in the coming months and as preparations for the 2006 Holiday season begin.

Bridge has more metrics about retail awareness and consumer preferences, you can check them out here.