Sirius Adds 359,000 Subscribers in Quarter

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., the No. 2 U.S. pay-radio company, said it added more than 359,000 subscribers in the third quarter, topping the 2 million mark for the first time.

Sirius expects to reach 3 million subscribers by year's end, the New York-based company said. Sirius also said that with more than 2.17 million subscribers, its market share rose 20% from the year-earlier quarter.

Chief Executive Mel Karmazin is grabbing a bigger slice of the listening audience with names such as Howard Stern and Martha Stewart. Stern's show will start airing on Sirius next year.

The biggest U.S. pay-radio service, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., said this week that it had 5 million subscribers.