UPDATE, 6:05 AM: CEO Mel Karmazin says he’s not worried that Sirius XM will lose subs beginning in January when the monthly price will rise to $14.49 from $12.95. “We thought about raising the prices more,” he says. The company monitors consumer comments on social networks, and “we’ve seen them say they understand … there hasn’t been much reaction.” Still, he says that “we’re going to work closely with our ‘save’ desk’ ” to retain subs. He assured investors that he’ll keep costs under control but would consider repurchasing company stock or acquiring another company. “All of the bankers visit us regularly,” Karmazin says. He adds that he’s upbeat about 2012 in part because forecasts show a 1M pickup in auto sales, the main source of new satellite radio subscriptions. “The best is yet to come,” Karmazin says. Investors are less certain: Sirius XM’s share price fell more than 5% in pre-market trading after the company’s conference call. Lazard Capital Markets’ Barton Crockett says he’d give the company a “B” grade for its 3Q performance. The market wants to see sub growth and the latest figure, he says, was “light.”

PREVIOUS, 4:25 AM: The satellite radio company is down about 1% in pre-market trading: It reported 3Q net income of $104.2M, up 54% vs the same quarter last year, on revenues of $762.6M, up 6.3%. While the revenue figure was lighter than the $764.2M the Street expected, earnings of 2 cents a share beat analysts’ estimate of zero. Still, the subscription figures might worry some investors: Sirius XM ended 3Q with 21.3M subs, up 364,004 in the quarter. Maxim Group’s John Tinker had forecast a pick up of 412,000 subs. The company is standing by the guidance it offered in September: It will record a gain of 1.6M subs in 2011 — and next year will deliver 10% revenue growth to $3.3B. CEO Mel Karmazin says that he is “confident our positive momentum will continue” in 4Q and is “even more excited by the many opportunities awaiting us in 2012.”