• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 4, 2010

Sirius XM, the satellite radio giant formed by the merger of two rival satcasters in 2007, expects to see its combined subscriber base grow 6.9% to 20.1 million at the end of this year, according to CEO Mel Karmazin. Karmazin said the satcaster currently has about 19.5 million subscribers.

Last month, Karmazin expressed optimism that Sirius XM would be able to renew its deal with Howard Stern, the high-profile shock jock brought on board earlier this decade to help recruit subscribers from his loyal fan base. (Stern was a Sirius staffer before Karmazin took the reins.)

Stern himself has made a number of somewhat contradictory statements about his intentions. Meantime, some financial analysts have suggested that Sirius XM might actually be better off not spending hundreds of millions to retain Stern's famously expensive talent. (His original contract netted Stern $600 million over five years).

Karmazin also indicated last month that Sirius XM was close to renewing its deal to carry NFL broadcasts.

Satellite radio is facing growing competition from Internet radio and other kinds of digital audio, including MP3 players and iPods. However, in a separate interview, Karmazin unveiled plans for a number of new initiatives to expand satellite radio's reach and appeal. They include traffic updates, weather, flight conditions, movie listings and gas price comparisons.

Some of these services obviously target automotive subscribers; the key growth area for Sirius XM is new cars. The company adds about 85% of its new subscriptions through factory-installed satellite radio sets in new cars. About 60% of all new cars sold in the U.S. are equipped with satellite radio, although not all of these convert by paying for subscriptions.

In the home audio market, Karmazin said about 15% of 110 million U.S. households have a satellite radio subscription.