SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Nasdaq : SIRI) announced late Monday that they are cutting their subscriber forecast for the end of the forth quarter.  They now feel that with the slowness of the current holiday sales, they will likely have between 5.9 – 6.1 million subscribers.  This is slightly down from previous forecasts which saw between 6.1 – 6.3 million

With the news of the lower subscriber forecast, shares fell big in early Tuesday trading.  Only a couple hours into trading and shares were down 31 cents or 7.43% to 3.86.  Surprisingly, XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq : XMSR) who had not mentioned a decrease to their subscriber forecast is also down 70 cents or 4.79% to 13.91.

Shareholders must have a sense that the satellite radio market isn’t quite as hot as they were thinking.  I was predicting that consumer demand wouldn’t be as high this Christmas season since neither Sirius or XM has made any new major programming announcements.  The battle for SIRIUS and XM isn’t between themselves, it is between them and other modes of entertainment.  Hopefully someone in their marketing departments will think of something quick because this holiday season is quickly coming to a close.