Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s (NASDAQ: SIRI) pending buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) is sitting on the hot plate as May approaches, with no clear approval in sight yet. Since the combination of the only two satellite radio companies was announced in February, have the metrics in that industry gotten any better?

Nope -- both companies are still on the way to turning a profit as each gains more and more customers on the slow road to break-even and sustainable profitability. Although XM Radio announced last week that it lost much less cash in the Q1 period than in the year-ago Q1 period, both companies are still deep in the red right now. That brings us to the planned buyout of XM by smaller rival Sirius. Can the proposed company get to profitability faster while not limiting customer choice?

That is the question proposed from every analyst looking at the combination right now (as are U.S. government regulators). As such, Sirius' Q1 expectations set to be dropped this morning are for an EPS figure of -$0.12 for the three months ending in March. The year-ago Q1 EPS figure stood at -$0.33, so perhaps Sirius has lost quite a bit less money in 2007 just like XM has. If you're a SIRI or XMSR investor, are you yearning for the merger of both companies with baited breath? If you are, read Sirius'1 full Q1 results release here before
we get started.

See what the company has to say as the Q1 results for Sirius Satellite Radio will be covered below in real-time. Remember to use the "Refresh" button on your web browser to refresh this post every few minutes as updates occur. All times below are in EST.

8:00am -- waiting on hold as the Sirius Q1 conference call has not started