• Associated Press, Friday, December 9, 2005 11:30 AM

With the excitement surrounding Howard Stern's arrival on Sirius Satellite Radio early in the new year, the satellite-radio business is beginning to act a little like Proctor & Gamble's hugely profitable shaver franchise. That is, it sees the virtue of selling the radios inexpensively in order to sign subscribers to contracts that, presumably, will keep them hooked for years to come. Both Sirius and XM, together with other manufacturers of the specialty radios, are taking advantage of the holiday selling season to discount their models and get them into the hands of consumers. "This holiday shopping season is viewed as key for the radio satellite services," according to a report from the Associated Press. "XM has said it expects to have 6 million subscribers by the end of this year. Sirius says it expects to have more than 3 million by year-end."

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