Sirius XM Radio announced its 2009 third quarter fiscal results today, with the satcaster reporting its fourth straight quarter of positive pro forma adjusted income from operations.

Third quarter 2009 pro forma total revenue was $630 million, up three percent from Q3 '08 pro forma total revenue of $613 million. Pro forma subscription revenue was $587 million for the quarter, also up three percent from a year ago, when it was $572 million. Pro forma amounts exclude the effects of stock-based compensation, purchase accounting adjustments, and assume the merger of Sirius and XM occurred on January 1, 2008.

Sirius XM ended the quarter with 18.5 million subscribers, adding just over 102,000 since Q2 '09, but still down two percent from a year ago. Subscriber churn was two percent for the quarter. The satcaster still took a net loss of $149 million for the quarter, but one year ago it had a net loss of $4.88 billion.

"We are very pleased with what we accomplished during the third quarter, especially when considering the macroeconomic issues affecting consumers and the auto industry," said CEO Mel Karmazin. "We managed to grow revenue, grow ARPU, reduce operating costs, increase adjusted income from operations significantly, and refinance higher cost debt. We look forward to continuing this performance. We grew subscribers and improved churn in the quarter, and we are well positioned to take advantage of an economic rebound. We expect to grow subscribers, revenue, and cash flow next year regardless of the magnitude of any recovery."

Sirius XM affirmed its year 2009 guidance of over $400 million in pro forma full-year adjusted income from operations. "We expect the company's cash flow growth momentum to continue into 2010, and we project full-year adjusted income from operations to increase approximately 20 percent next year," said Karmazin. Based upon assumed 2010 automobile sales of 11.3 million units, Sirius XM expects to achieve positive full-year subscriber growth in 2010. The company also expects 2010 revenue growth of mid- to high-single digits, and growth in free cash flow compared to 2009.

"While the near future's macroeconomic performance is extremely difficult to predict, our business has reached sufficient scale to allow us to continue to grow cash flow," Karmazin added.