Retail sales of XM and Sirius receivers were down 30% in September, according to NPD data. And Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby notes that September had the easiest comps this year, since the month had been down 9% a year ago. XM unit sales were down 35% year-over-year in September and Sirus sales dropped 26%. "Yes, OEM manufacturers have made recent announcements on increasing rates, but retail sales continue to deteriorate at a much worse than expected rate," Jacoby told clients. The BofA analyst is also less optimistic than most of Wall Street about the likelihood of the proposed XM-Sirius merger clearing regulatory hurdles.
