Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, has recently setup a website polling subscribers about their opinion on their channel offerings on XM Satellite Radio. Specifically, the company is inquiring about the commercials on the music channels.
The website they registered is SatFans.com.
SatFans.com was registered in late February of this year. Quite the interesting bit of timing as Clear Channel's forward sales agreement, which includes the right to program 409.6 kbit/s of XM's bandwidth, is expected to expire in June of this year.
[via Orbitcast Forums]
Cool, since they run Premiere, I used it as an opportunity to urge them to let Jim Rome go on XM
Interesting as it is their policy that made XM put commercials onto the audio channels that they control. This made XM's claim of 100% commercial free invalid. Kick them to the curb - they offer nothing.
I gave them a piece of my mind....Fuck Clear Channel
My wife really likes a couple of their channels, but if they go away, I am sure the bandwidth would be filled with decent stations offering similar music. It's funny that they ask about your reaction when a commercial comes on. When listening to FM, my wife switches away from commercials, same as she does with XM. Why would it be different? Music and talk are separate though. I'll listen to commercials when listening to talk radio.
Why should XM air Jim Rome? Isn't it bad enough they already air Dan Patrick's show? Kornheiser is their best talent. XM should offer Tony Bruno an exclusive gig.
Even with a few commercials, Sat Radio is still the better choice for audio.
I enjoyed those channels until Clear Channel added commercials. I never listen now. I'm paying $50 a month for all my subscriptions and Clear Channel expects me to listen to its commercials? INSULTING!
BTW: Expect more of the same when Mel Karmazin and Sirius take over XM, unless the FCC does the right thing and says "NO!" to the merger.
Chris- your wrong about Mel- commercial free music channels is one of the few things going for sat. radio. That will not change with mergers- too much competition- people will just stop their subscriptions.
By the way- Can XM drop Clear Channel in June, or does Clear Channel have the right to renew their deal on their own?
The programming on the CC channels far surpasses what Jon Zellner and co. are offering. The "AM Classics" version of Sunny was the best hits channel on XM--even with the CM's.
A few minutes an hour doesn't bother me as long as the programming is well done, with a big playlist. I'd rather hear a few minutes of CM's an hour than the same song over and over and over and over which seems to be the direction XM is heading.
Like Ryan said , do you think even Mel , will sh*t on his core product ( commercial - free music channels . )
Actually some of Clear Channel's talk channels are pretty good. Channel 158, 165 and Fox Sports Radio. I don't believe the relationship between CC & XM are tenuous as a person might think. For instance, they worked out a deal that put the Grand Ole Opry on one of the Clear Channel channels, so that the Opry's commercials could air.
And let me add, the commercials I hear on the CC music channels aren't what I would consider mainstream companies, except for 1 hour out of each daypart, which are most likely Premier Rad buys. In fact, having worked for them in the past, I'd say the non-Premier Rad commercials they run on the music channels are what a person would call "added value" commercials. Commercials that aren't paid for. They take and give those commercials to businesses if they're paying for ads elsewhere.
The commercials I hear now are the same commercials that were airing when they first went to commercials 2 years ago. And quite frankly, I think the reason they put commercials on these channels is if they didn't, people would be asking, "why'd you take this to arbitration in the first place?" I wouldn't doubt they're looking at trying to stay on XM in the future and possibly going more commercial free on their XM music channels once the agreement expires. Maybe cut it down to 2 commercial breaks per daypart (every 4 to 5 hours).
I only listen to Steve Czaben on the fox sports radio.. on clear channel.. the music channels are probably ok, but I don't listen to them, not because they have commercials, but rather because the channels they don't program are the channels I like on the XM dial...
Fucking Hypocrites.
I told them what I think. They suck ass. Their channels suck (most especially the music channels) and they can take their stupid commercials and put them on their stupid terrestrial stations. Asswipes.
RJR & “AC” - Clear Channel was an early investor in XM and when it pushed selling spots on the channels it programs, an arbitrator ruled in favor of CC. In order for XM to boast “the most commercial-free music” it had to put in Hitlist, Flight and a few others to make up the difference. Anybody wanna take a guess at how adding those affected the audio quality of the remaining XM channels?
We’ll have to agree to disagree on Mel Karmazin. I think the reason terrestrial radio is in the shape its in today is because CBS/Infinity, CC and the rest played to Wall Street and only programmed to the 25-54 demo. It's all about the stockholders and stock price to Mr. Karmazin and guys like him. And because of that, now terrestrial radio is cryin’ the “ain’t-it-awfuls” because Gen X and Gen Y have no interest in radio, including satellite.
kick ccu out of the satrad industry...and i suspect mel feels the same way. maybe that's why ccu filed the complaint about the merger (they see the writing on the wall...and it says "kiss my ass-love mel"). if they can't get in on satrad, they'll go on down the flusher with the rest of their crap programming.
Tried to get the site up but got "Cannot Find Server" when I clicked the link. But, I personally could live without the CC music stations. Move the Opry to XM America or US Country. Some of their talk programming is okay though.