Following last week's rumor of the combining of Sirius XM Radio Inc. music channels, comes a new batch of rumors that the launch date of the merged channels will come in less than two-weeks.Instead of the revised date of November 14th (updated from November 5th), we're now hearing that the combined channels between Sirius and XM is scheduled for November 12th. Does two days make a difference? No, not really, but I'm just relaying the info here folks.
Here's the rundown so far:
50 channels are expected to be simulcast between Sirius and XM. There will also be new channels coming to XM, and both services will retain "special" channels unique to each.
XM Escape is reportedly moving to channel 28, and The Pulse is moving to channel 12. This indicates a complete channel shuffle to me, but - according to various sources - Boneyard, Squizz, The Loft (and even 90s on 9) - are reportedly going to be staying. In total, XM will air 69 commercial-free channels. Details on Sirius' lineup are unknown at this time.
It is possible that a channel guide will be released ahead of this change (this could be the original Nov. 5th date?).
Additionally, Taylor on Radio-Info reports that Sirius XM is debating renewing its traffic deal with Westwood, or retaining XM's in-house traffic reporting service in Washington D.C. XM's in-house service is said to be cheaper than the Westwood deal, reportedly costing the company $5 million a year in cash.
How can the Pulse be moving to Channel 12 when it will be Led Zepplin channel?
And why would they move Escape to channel 28 ? Neither of these make any sense .
Announcer on the Pulse JUST ANNOUNCED they
are moving to channel 12 in a couple weeks.
They are moving it just to cancel it. And using Westwood sounds like a huge waste of money. I anticipate Sirius will maintain the contract.
I wonder if any of the execs at Sirius XM read this site or other sites where the public comments on what changes they'd like to see.
do you think they will change the best of packages .
Hopefully you're right about squizz. I've got 4 subcriptions (3 of which are family plan) riding on that.
So XM is losing a Broadway and a country channel? So far so good on the merger!!
No more XCountry?
http://xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=96305
One of my top 3 favorite channels. And im not even into Country music.
If that is true my two favorite stations are staying. Squizz and the Boneyard. My hope is they don't destroy the programming on those stations. But this is the first word of good news from this merger.
People hate change, so everyone is going to bitch about whatever they do. That is why I think they would be smart to blow it all up and start over, no channels that carry over. All new names, bumpers, logo’s the whole deal.
This way everyone has lost their favorite channels.
They could then say, if you liked the Bridge then try this channel.
We would all be checking out the new channels not just the ones we used to like. What better way to remove the Sirius vs XM debate then to kill them both and start over.
Yeah, no kidding! What is happening to Cross Country? I have a million songs from Cross Country saved to my Inno. If that channel goes away, I'll be more than a little upset...
Guys, I'm not sure if this means that X Country is out. It's just an indication that the channel numbers are getting a full reshuffle. It's still a total unknown which channels are getting the axe.
One more sign that the merger blows goats.
They lied to us, they lied to the FCC, they deserve what's going to happen to them.
Mel Karmazin is scum. Rot in Hell.
I think that you will have one set of channel numbers for Sirius and XM. So Channel 12 is not X-Country .... its The Pulse. The Bridge when back will be someplace else. X-Country may be with the country channels which on Sirius are in the 60s. Will they stay there? Who knows. If you hear a channel is moving to channel 28 (using Escape as an example) it simply means that Escape has made the cut. You can't assume what is currently on 28 is necessarly gone or just moved.
Hopefully they cut and merge some channels--if sound quality doesn't improve, I won't last too much longer.
My sound quality is pretty darn good...always amazes me when people complain about that. Maybe we have better reception where I live? Maybe I have really good speakers and headphones?
Again, my favorite channels these days are XM Chill (lots of drum & bass, and rythms) and you don't have the clatter of different noises competing to be heard?
I certainly hope this doesn't mean X Country is going away...One of my favorite channels. I'm guessing the country neighborhood is just moving...Can't imagine The Pulse fitting too well between Nashville and Willie's Place.
On the other hand, I am glad to hear Boneyard and Squizz are sticking around. Very cool. Again, wouldn't mind seeing Buzzsaw get added to XM.
How about Deep Tracks? Is it doomed after GTM's departure?
As much as it'd suck to lose favorite channels, I kind of like the suggestion of blowing the whole thing up and starting over with new channel names and IDs and stuff. Keep some of the old air staff though as many of them are good and know what they're doing.
If all these channel changes are true I guess I will be leaving Sirius for xm, so I can get SEC football and the bob dylan show if the music is the same.
It would be much better to see elements of both services blended rather than a "this or that" approach. For instance, it would be cool to see Fangoria Radio on Sirius be incorporated into Cinemagic on XM. It would be much easier to handle changes like that rather than seeing a channel completely eliminated in favor of another one simply because they are deemed to be similar. If Totally 70s on Sirius is going to be the 70s channel for both platforms (the far weaker of the two, but I digress), I would hope elements such as the Casey Kasem countdowns would be incorporated into their programming.
It would have been nice to see the best people from XM and Sirus put together to provide the strongest programming possible rather than just getting rid of the XM people. It's decisions like that that make me believe that subscriber satisfaction is not the top priority in this merger.
I am sitting here listening to Cinemagic's Halloween Horror Fest, something I look forward to each year. I am wondering if I'll be listening to it next year. I have no idea what the fate of this unique XM channel will be. I am guessing that Dave and Chris, the guys running the channel feel the same way. Over the years Cinemagic has had a very "self-managed" feel. I've sent a few emails to them in the past and never once received a response. Over the last couple of months it seems they've decided to incorporate the listeners into the programming. They suddenly started responding to emails, taking requests from listeners and dedicating segments to them on the air. I wasn't sure how to perceive this. Is this their way of thanking the listeners for their the years of support before the channel gets dropped, or is this a last ditch effort to try get the folks over at Sirius to see them as a unique channel worth keeping on the XM platform? I am sure that there are a lot of XM subscribers that have similar feelings about their favorite channel. A lot already know the fate of their favorite channel due to the publicity given to the XM lay-offs. One of my favorite channels on XM for the last few years was the 70's on 7. John Clay did an excellent job of brining that channel together. He was one of the many that was let go. For me that was a “huge” loss. The 70s channel on XM consistently ranked higher then any Sirius music channel in the Arbitron ratings.
I guess I am one of the XM "losers". It's unfortunate because for the last four years I've come to love the service and now I feel like am watching it slowly die. Who knows, we may all be wrong. This drawn out "down" period may inspire these guys to get their shit together and make satellite better than it ever was. But reading these posts, it seems most just fear that Sirus XM (blech - I hate saying that) has become a lawn dart that is plummeting to the ground. Ever since the merger was announced, it’s been a shitty ride just sitting back waiting to see what the final outcome will be. We’ll all see where this going soon enough.
Given my username, you can guess my sentiments regarding XCountry. I would think they are referring directly to Sirius 12, since The Pulse is a Sirius channel, so I don't consider this an indication that XCountry is gone. I'm trying to remain hopeful.
As far as the combined channel lineup having the same channel numbers, I think that would be a mistake. There's no real advantage, since some channels will be different, anyway, so they'd still need two different channel guide cards. And keeping the channel numbers different at least maintains a veneer of separation between the two services.
I don't understand the push to consolidate these channels. You look at similar channels like Fred and FirstWave, or Outlaw and X Country, and it does not seem it would be that big of a problem to maintain separate channels with separate names, but share some of the personalities, songs, but adjust the playlists. This isn't 1968 - it's not like there's a DJ there spinning records. They probably audio track an air shift in 30 minutes. When FirstWave plays something for first time each day, it can play on Fred, too, but for the second through twentieth plays in a day on FirstWave, Fred could play something different. Add to that total automation, as already occurs on many channels, and things like listener programming via call-in requests, as X Country does where the listener's phone call announces the song. You can have several channels being run by an intern or $10-an-hour assistant - or by no one at all. So, why consolidate channels and piss people off? I have no idea.
With The Pulse moving to channel 12, I'm guessing that means that Sirius is probably expanding their "hits/pop" category to add a few channels. My guess is that maybe "90s on 9" and possibly one of XM's Top 40 channels (either "20 on 20" or "XM Hitlist"), will be added to the lower channels (pushing "The Pulse" up a few notches). Just a guess though.
Also, has anyone heard what channels are making the cut as far as the dance category goes? I'm mainly wondering about the dance hits channel (will we keep "The Beat" or "BPM", or maybe both?)
The advantage of consolidating is that it would also save their royalty payments... Also, they only have a certain amount of bandwidth available, so that's another factor to consider.
Leavenfish, Chill gets 40kbps, which is among the highest bandwidth allocations. Most music stations are down to 32kbps, and a few are down to 24kbps...along with most of the talk.
By comparison, most iTunes songs are at 128kbps and people complained so now they offer some 192kbps songs....
Word on the street is that the next reduction in quality will involve switching the talk stations to Morse code...just a rumor though!
In my car, I can hear a huge difference between the Clear Channel stations that have high allocations, and say, 20 on 20.
As far as Sirius goes....there's no telling how much SQ could be improved if they dropped the backseat TV thing!
Pavan, thanks for the reply. I do not see the bandwidth advantage to consolidating channels, though. They have and will for the foreseeable future have two platforms, and each has a certain amount of available bandwidth. Broadcasting the same thing on the two platforms does not save any bandwidth compared to broadcasting different things on the two platforms.
On the royalty issue, that could be a point, as I don't know how royalty payments are calculated. But logic would tell me if you play song X on both XM and Sirius, you still have to make two royalty payments, because I doubt the RIAA is going to tolerate twice as many people hearing a song for the same money as they were receiving when it was played on one platform.
I agree about the sound quality differences between Clear Channel and native XM channels. I nominate 20 on 20 for the switch to morse code.
Correction: All of XM Dance (including XM Chill) has used 32kbps since at least March, 2006.
Aegrotatio, your source for that data?
Chill, which sounds full and deep, clearly has more bandwidth than the others in that genre - the best of the bunch. Chrome, sounding thin and dull, clearly has less than all of them.
Time will tell if the SQ will be improved.
Ryan, Anyone? How about XM Flight 26 ?
I would be surprised if they make any changes to Flight 26, as it's one of the most popular channels on XM.