So how's satellite-radio doing in Canada? Canadian Satellite Radio, which operates XM Canada, said yesterday it ended its 2006 fiscal year with 120,000 customers (90,000 paid, the rest falling into the promotional and discount category). That's the good news. The bad news is it lost $102.7-million, mostly on marketing and customer acquisition costs. In a research note, Genuity Capital analyst Andrea Horan said the paying subscriber numbers for CSR were below her forecast of 96,000 but 40% of XM's net adds will come during the holiday season. While I can see how satellite-radio can appeal to certain types of customers (taxi and truck drivers, serious commuters, cottage owners), I'm still not sold on its mainstream appeal. Sure, there is plenty of programming choice but it has never struck me as compelling even when you consider it costs about 50 cents a day. Both XM and Sirius Canada have serious ambitions (XM believes it can hit one million subscribers by 2010) but they seem far more bullish than realistic. Of course, XM is a publicly-traded company so they have to be optimistic otherwise they wouldn't be seen as serving the needs of shareholders properly. CSR shares by the way have dropped by more than 40% since the IPO earlier this year. Tags: ,