Oh sure, there's a merger going on so everyone's one big happy family right? Not exactly. Everyone still wants to see how Sirius' and XM's satellite radio subscribers are stacking up against each other.

So here's some charts and numbers using the latest subscriber information to break it all down for you.

Total Satellite Radio Subscribers:

Sirius Satellite Radio: 7,142,538
XM Satellite Radio: 8,250,000

The above chart shows the total cumulative subscribers starting from the fourth quarter of 2001 and how both Sirius and XM subscribers have grown comparative to each other.

Quarterly Net Subscribers

Sirius Satellite Radio: 561,493
XM Satellite Radio: 338,000

Here you can see how Sirius and XM have added NET subscribers on a quarterly basis, going back to 2005. For the seventh consecutive quarter, Sirius has beaten out XM in net satellite radio subscriber additions.

Quarterly Gross Subscribers:

Sirius Satellite Radio: 1,002,145
XM Satellite Radio: 942,000

This chart shows the quarterly GROSS subscriber additions between XM and Sirius. I find that gross subscribers are a very important metric to track, because it eliminates variables (like churn) and shows the true market penetration. For the third consecutive quarter, Sirius has outpaced XM in gross subscriber additions. This even beats out the "Stern Effect" from last year.

Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) are scheduled to release their 2Q results within the next two weeks, and analysts are offering up their predictions of what's to come.

And the news ain't that bad. (surprised?)

Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck projects that Sirius will add 920,000 gross subscribers, while net subscriber additions will come in at 477,000. For XM, Bear Stearns projects gross additions of 950,000 and net additions of 323,000 subscribers.

Bank of America's Jonathan Jacoby is a bit more bullish on subscriber additions, stating that Sirius "will easily top" BofA's estimates of 441,000 net subscriber additions, "and could beat the Street consensus estimate of 470K by as much as 25K." Jacoby also estimates that XM will also "easily top" the Street consensus of 310k net subscribers, and may even best his more aggressive estimate of 345,000 net subscribers.

The comps are hard though. For the same period last year, XM came in at 398,012 net subscribers (926,281 gross subs) and Sirius topped the scale at 600,460 net subscribers (830,571 gross subs).

Even if XM and Sirius beat out the more bullish estimates, they still likely won't beat 2Q06's numbers... albeit by a relatively small amount. But with the merger on everyone's minds, will it even matter?

Since April of last year, Bridge Ratings has shown overall "brand interest" in satellite radio to be on a significant decline - as is obvious from the above graph - but the good news is that in the latter part of Q2, consumer interest has improved.

After a slight uptick in interest during 4Q06, interest in satellite radio among consumers fell to its lowest point this spring - falling below the 5.0 point for the first time ever. (see chart) A "Brand Stimulation Score" of 4.8 indicates that as a group, those Bridge interviewed were just as likely not to consider subscribing as were.

The comps are difficult though: in the first half of '06, the average Brand Stimulation Score was 7.3, assumably as a direct result of the Stern Effect. The "brand stimulation" then slid to 6.0, reflecting the soft consumer interest during the middle part of 2006. And though the full Q2 average fell to 4.7, Bridge's numbers show a flattening occurring. As Bridge puts it, "It is possible that consumer apathy for satellite radio has bottomed out."

Bridge's study also shows that consumer hestitation due to the pending Sirius-XM merger has dropped significantly as well.

Bridge Ratings Q1 data indicated that 52% of potential subscribers would wait longer than previously expected before subscribing thanks to the merger. But their Q2 data shows that number has dropped to 40%.

The key takeaway here is that satellite radio appears to have lost its original appeal, but is showing signs of recovery (during a generally slow time of the year even). This is good news, but how do they stimulate this momentum further? One big factor, in my opinion, is the style and design of satellite radio retail products.

It's the overall experience of the medium that ultimately drives recommendations from friends (aka word-of-mouth) - which leads to consumer interest - and that includes the clunky device sitting atop your friend's dashboard.

[Bridge Ratings]