As a happy customer of Sirius satellite radio since September 2006, today I decided to buy 35 shares of SIRI stock at $3.00 a share to add to our stock competition portfolio.

This is my ninth trade in the competition with my overall portfolio -5.52% as of this writing. I’m ahead of my wife, but need to get away from the black and into the red.

Why satellite radio? Over the last nine months I’ve become increasingly convinced that satellite radio is viable entertainment until internet is everywhere. Let’s face it, internet isn’t omnipresent yet and when you’re in the car, especially for those traveling, satellite rocks. If it was everywhere and I could get the same quality content like the NFL games and Howard Stern show while driving around, I would. Even though we have EVDO, that doesn’t work everywhere that satellite does. Everybody, without exception, that I’ve talked to in person about satellite radio loves it.

I’m willing to gamble on that kind of customer passion.

Add to this the proposed Sirius + XM merger which is still under debate, but I’m thinking more and more will prevail as well as the fact that Sirius second quarter 2007 results were improving. Yes, they’re still losing money, but not as much money.

Check out the numbers in this Yahoo article showing that they Sirius is narrowing the gap with XM in both new subscribers and total subscribers.

Similar to ATARi stock that I purchased, this is in part a passion play. I plan on holding SIRI at least through the result of the merger. If the merger falls through, I’ll reassess then. The results of the merger may not be in until the end of the year or later, so this and ATARi could end up being my longest position in the portfolio. Go SIRI, go!

• Sirius and XM kissing in a tree, now waiting for regulatory approval
• Paying first Zecco commissions, taking first loss
• Sirius to release portable unit that stores music
• Uncensored Howard Stern coming to Sirius in 2006
• Find a clear channel at Sirius
• XM and Sirius, side-by-side feature comparison