On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that Satellite Radio unit sales are on the rise, fueled by a variety of new receivers and more flexible subscription plans. According to the article:

Neither company is ready to release holiday sales figures, but Washington's XM Satellite Radio Inc. expects to have 1.2 million subscribers by year's end, compared with 347,000 subscribers a year ago.... New York-based Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. had a strong holiday season, spokesman Ron Rodrigues said. But it was not too tough to do better than last year. Last holiday season was the first full operating quarter for the public company. Although Rodrigues said sales figures will not be released until early January, "we were all very busy fourth quarter. And if that's any indication of sales, then sales were good."

The article goes on to say that XM is offering multi-year subscription packages that lower the cost of their service to as low as $7.48 per month, a $2.51 discount from the typical month-to-month plan. This type of pricing has encouraged people to buy receivers and service bundles as gifts for others. [ via Slashdot ]