Sirius picks up subscribers in Q1

A SIRIUS UPWARD MOVE: Sirius XM Radio grew its subscriber base 0.9% during the first quarter, a step toward a hoped-for 500k new customers this year as the company begins to reverse last year's decline, Dow Jones Newswire reports. The satellite-radio operator said it ended the first quarter with 18.9 million subscribers, closing in on the 19-million level it had at the end of 2008. Sirius lost 404k subscribers in Q1 of 2009 in the depths of the economic downturn, but added 171k this past quarter. The stock is up 60% this year and has nearly tripled in the past 12 months. In the latest quarter, Sirius said gross additions rose 29% from a year earlier while deactivations declined 11%. Additionally, 45.2% of trial subscriptions converted to self-pay ones, up from 44.6% a year ago. (4/14a)