Well, the rumors were true, not that we doubted it of course, but the official word from XM has come down that the next XM-5 Satellite will be built by Space Systems/Loral.

XM-5 will be finishing construction in 2007 and is intended as a ground spare for XM's in-orbit fleet because the current spare, XM-4, is scheduled to launch in 2006.

Reuters is reporting that the new XM Satellite should cost about $186 million. Originally the Wall Street Journal said the cost would be $300 million, but they then updated the article to read "over $200 million" instead. I'm speculating that the new satellite will be Loral's 20.20 as the available power for that model ranges from 17kW to 30kW and it's Loral's bad boy bird. With XM-4 being built right now with an estimated 2007 launch date (though some have mentioned 2006), you'd figure they'd need to have this new XM-5 Satellite ready as a backup around the same time.