Karmazin credits some of his sales success to a new ad campaign. I guess he has to say that inasmuch as he approved the campaign, but I have a hard time believing it. I’ve seen this ad several times, but until I read this interview, I had no idea it was for Sirius (SIRI):

Meanwhile, maybe it’s just self-interest/projection, but I was struck by the fact that Karmazin seemed to go out of his way to tell the Reuters staff how little he thought of it.

Or maybe he was talking about journalists in general: After being greeted by a dozen Reuters reporters at the company’s Global Media Summit,” Karmazin declared that if he was running the news service, only one of them would be employed.

Here’s Reuters media reporter Robert MacMillan’s account of the exchange, via Twitter:

Why? A few reasons. First, there’s the government’s “cash for clunkers” program, which will likely stimulate new car sales and new Sirius subscriptions thanks to the satellite radio trials often packaged with new cars.

Then there are rumors of new iPod-related hardware that may or may not debut at the company’s holiday gift-guide event next week. Scheduled for Wednesday, that gathering promises “a new line-up of accessories…for the home, office, vehicle and beyond.” This has led some folks to speculate that we’ll soon see a Sirius dock for the iPod/iPhone.

From XMFan, which claims to have insider details on the device.

The XM SkyDock is a docking station for your iPod Touch or iPhone that turns it into a SATELLITE XM Radio receiver! Included is an XM antenna, power cord (also featuring the new transmitter technology), and docking station that turns your iPod/iPhone into an actual XM Satellite Radio receiver using the SiriusXM app.

XMFan says the dock is expected to retail for under $100 and speculates that it could drive a lot of new subscriptions. I suppose we’ll find out next week–if the device is actually announced.

[Image Credit: XMfan]

The company’s shares spiked, rising about 20 percent to 54 cents on news of the government’s expanded “Cash for Clunkers” program and the positive impact it should have on new car sales and, by extension, new Sirius subscriptions. That analysts had been predicting a second-quarter loss for the satellite radio company, along with the loss of thousands of subscribers, did little to temper enthusiasm. Though it seems to have done so today, now that those predictions have proven true.

Reporting second-quarter earnings this morning, Sirius posted a net loss of $157.3 million, or four cents a share on revenue that rose one percent to $590.8 million. Excluding one-time charges, though, Sirius lost only a penny a share, matching analyst estimates.

As analysts had foreseen, subscriber count slipped again. Sirius ended the quarter with 18.4 million subscribers–a one percent drop from a year ago. All told, the company lost 185,999 net subscribers during the period. And that’s prior to the addition of a $2 royalty fee.

Looking ahead, the satellite radio operator raised its outlook for the year, cautiously optimistic that the car sales that drive subscriptions will pick up in the second half of this year.

“Based on these results we are increasing guidance again and expect to exceed over $400 million in adjusted income from operations during 2009,” CEO Mel Karmazin said in an earnings release. “Growing our revenue in the face of broad declines in the advertising and automotive markets is a remarkable accomplishment, and we are well positioned for a rebound in auto sales.”

Shares in Sirius are trading down 7.41 percent at 50 cents as I write this, which is still 10 times their 52 week low. And, to be fair, they are up almost 10 cents in last 10 trading days and up about 320 percent year-to-date.

And it was a nasty decline.

The company ended the quarter with 18.6 million subscribers–up 3.5 percent from a year earlier but down 404,000 subscribers from the preceding quarter. Sirius added 1,338,961 new customers. But it lost 1,743,383.

Given that and the state of the auto industry on which the company is so dependent for new subscribers, how will it ever attain CEO Mel Karmazin’s goal of 20.6 million subscribers by end of ’09? Hard to say, especially when Sirius expects to see another “noticeable hit” to its subscribers in its next quarter. That didn’t stop the company from raising its 2009 forecast to $350 million, adjusted from more than $300 million. Karmazin said that “satellite radio is now a cash flow growth story.”

Tell that to your subscribers.