Washington - As it continues to await the approval of the Federal Communications Commission to complete its multi-billion-dollar merger with Sirius (NASD: SIRI), XM Satellite Radio (NASD: XMSR) on Monday reported a higher first-quarter loss, despite a healthy gain in subscribers.

The company said that it lost $129 million during the quarter, compared with a net loss of $122 million the previous year.

That's despite a 17% jump in revenue to $308 million and 303,000 net subscriber additions. XM now boasts 9.33 million total subscribers.

The company was hurt, in part, by a $21 million increase in the amount of royalties it must pay artists, following a December ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board.

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