Lee Abrams, former Chief Creative Officer at XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., gave some hints to the Wall Street Journal about possible programming changes that would occur post-merger.While neither XM or Sirius will comment about programming changes, Abrams (who resigned from XM in March) gave WSJ a bit more color.
The bottom line: the lowest rated channels won't necessarily be the ones to go.
Channels that are unlikely to go are the ones that attract a small but particularly loyal audience, such as XM's "Fine Tuning," and Sirius' "Underground Garage" channel. Additionally, the companies can't ditch the French language channels la Route" on XM and "Premiere Plus" on Sirius thanks to programming agreements with the Canadian counterparts, says Lee Abrams, who is now the chief innovation officer at Tribune.
Instead, Abrams says that listeners can expect trims where there is obvious duplication, like traffic and weather channels, and classical music channels. Some low-ranking channels, such as XM's "National Lampoon Comedy," will probably disappear as well.
However, "you have to do it with a lot of dignity and respect for the listeners' feelings," Abrams told WSJ. He added that customer service reps will be trained so they know how to respond to angry callers.
[Wall Street Journal]
classical music who the fuck listens to that shit anyway
classical music who the fuck listens to that shit anyway
However, "you have to do it with a lot of dignity and respect for the listeners' feelings," Abrams told WSJ. He added that customer service reps will be trained so they know how to respond to angry callers.
Would love to sit in on those training sessions. LOL
snip snip snip--I am all for channel cuts--the sound quality of sat rad is worse than FM. If Bose can sell a ton of 500 dollar clock radios based on "the sound quality," then sat rad should capitalize on this as well.
Don't you think the people who do are saying the same thing about Rap or Metal. The idea of Satrad is something for everybody.
I think the changing and stuff will be done in an evolutionary process (a little bit at a time). That way, people won't notice it as much as they obviously would if changes were done all at once. A "break it to them gently" type of thing.
Maybe XM's 202 can go since they no longer have to try to duplicate the Howard Stern show.
dont you cut xmlm
i love that channel fuck with that channel and im outtie
Maybe XM's 202 can go since they no longer have to try to duplicate the Howard Stern show.
hoo hoo i invented everything. Tell them Fred. Howards a no talent hack!!!!
I wouldn't miss NatLamp- it is the worst of the comedy stations, by far.
If XM202/Opie & Anthony go, I am gone as well.
Howard Stern is horriffic to listen to...and the hole that sits 2nd mic is even worse!
O&A are the only reason to have Sat Radio....and if they arent part of the new company...neither will I be!
slow day huh? no news? really?
I THINK this is news in the satellite world, right? Stern is on Satellite, right?
PIGS. ORBITCAST PIGS.
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080724152511.aspx
Hopefully they will at least try to get subscribers wants and opinions via email or website polls. That would give them a better idea of what to cut and what to consolidate. If you are planning on leaving the service because your favorite channel got axed or blended in with another providers you may need to look into getting a life.There is a lot more going on in the world to worry about than not getting to hear your favorite show.
ch 154 on xm will be where howard 100 goes
its a safe bet
Nope too close to Oprah's channel and she will not stand for that.
guy said...
"dont you cut xmlm
i love that channel fuck with that channel and im outtie"
Hopefully XMLM is the winner as they decide to remove duplicate channels. As a Sirius subscriber, I've become VERY disappointed with Hard Attack. The DJs on this channel absolutely destroy everything good about it. There's nothing worse than a Hard Attack DJ talking over 30 seconds of a song while they tell me about the awful stomach ache they have, or whatever other useless information they have to share. The few chances I've had to hear XMLM, it sounds like a much better channel.
Plus, hopefully they'll improve the request system. Sirius's request flow sucks. You request a song on Thursday at noon. Friday evening, you receive an e-mail stating that customer service received your request and is forwarding it to the channel. Then, Saturday morning, the song is actually played. But, it was probably going to be played anyway at that time.
Live DJs (that don't talk over the music) would be nice, too.
I like how he says you have to do it with a lot of dignity for the listeners.. since when has XM ever done that?? it's the least of their concerns.. the bottom line will be what they look at.. fine tuning is a great channel but... I feel and have felt that if you have your thirty presets set to your favorites then be prepared to lose a third ... ten channels will be either deleted or "merged" with sirius channels to make horse shit smell like roses in their eyes.. everyone who thought "wow think of the choices" guess again....
ur moms box
XMU > Left of Center
20 on 20 > Sirius Hits 1
Give Jason Ellis mucho love.
National Lampoon Radio is a Clear Channel channel, so it depends where Clear Channel is left in this confusion.
Cinemagic must be saved as well.
Drudge Report did the Stern story yesterday. It's no longer news.
Plus, hopefully they'll improve the request system. Sirius's request flow sucks. You request a song on Thursday at noon. Friday evening, you receive an e-mail stating that customer service received your request and is forwarding it to the channel. Then, Saturday morning, the song is actually played. But, it was probably going to be played anyway at that time.
==============
The request system is just a way to tell how many people might be possibly listening to a certain channel. If they're requesting a song on that channel, chances are that's a channel that subscriber listens to quite a bit...it doesn't necessarily mean that requested song is going to get played.
XM's complete slate of country channels should be kept and SIRI's dropped - there is really no comparison. Both from listeners and from artists/music industry people - they love XM and the promotion they give the artists.
The Virus is safe, as long as O&A/R&F agree to less $ in their new deals as the new company won't have enough $ to offer the same kind of deals (same holds true for Stern and the shows on his channels)
I had XM for 3 months, and honestly you can lose the entire service except maybe Deep Tracks and a few of the Rock, but their other selections are really horrible.
Keep Hair Nation and the Big 80s on Sirius the way they are, and leave E Street Radio alone too. Lose the Virus..
How many listeners do Eric the Midget and Opie and Anthony have Fred??
zero... point... zero...
I think O&A would probably be more open to taking a pay cut to stay on XM, since I think their frustration with what they can't do on the CBS side would preclude them from going FM-only. For Stern, though, I doubt his ego would allow him to take a pay cut.
And I think the CSRs are already trained for how many subs will handle the changes - just like any other account cancellation.
What about the sports? Will FixSports be added to Sirius?
I love choices
Let's see:
On Sirius, I like the R&B channels, the comedy channels and the Jazz channels.
On XM, I like the Decades and the Rock channels better.
Now I'm mostly likely going to lose half of what I like about each service independently.
Isn't choice grand? Now I get choices taken away due to channel cuts.
DAMN, THEY BETTER NOT GET RID OF XM's "BBC WORLD SERVICE"!!
Don't sweat it AC. Remember, you have HD Radio and according to past posts it is much superior.
The Tate button needs to be yellow---
it is not a done deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Greyfurgang,
Don't sweat it Greyfurgang. Remember, you too will have HD Radio sooner than later, with satradio's failure after this pump and dump, and according to past posts it is much superior.
"classical music who the fuck listens to that shit anyway " obviously people a lot smarter than you.
shade 45 on my xm receiver please ;)
shade 45 on my xm receiver please ;) ch 66 sucks
I am looking forward to the sports on the radio. The soccer chanel from SIRIUS will be listened to quite offten on my XM.
It will be nice to listen to the Bears on the radio instead of a Vikings or Packers game here in Minnesota.
Funny thing is 92% of the people that use this site want to STOP the use of "Anonymous Coward" comments? You know, AC, right? (Does he work at Orbitcast?)
Next - why no mention of WRSP? oh wait - the is all things satellite (except for a publicly traded company)
oh, wait - there is the Howard Stern thing. People have been waiting months, if not years for him to make comments on the satellite merger. He says something rather IMPORTANT - But nooooooooooooooooo. No Press for the guy that actually has a SPINE!
What a crock.
I hope the condense Howard and O&A into one channel. Not that I listen to either, but giving a live broadcast at all times without resorting to repays is the best way to go. You have late night and weekends to replay all the stuff you want.
Chances are, most channels will also be merged, taking the best from each provider, letting the stronger provider lead in cases where they have the stronger channel (as someone mentioned XM's country coverage.) I think XM's The Rhyme is a great channel, but agree, Raw is just bad.
I'll let the following be the absolute last things I ask since the merger will be official shortly.
Since I've been an XM sub since 2003, I was once impressed of the vast variety and depth of music offerings and quite a handful of such is either now gone or diluted to a certain point. That has been a real turnoff.
Since it is a subscription service, I hope that the new service would focus on 'the individual's reason for subscribing' as opposed to just focusing on common denominators.
Yes, sports, and news/talk/variety is wonderful. But please do not forget what once made XM wonderful. And that is music variety, genre depth, sound quality, and deep playlists.
This merger will be good if its done right, especially now that they can nearly double (minus 8%) their bandwidth.
And I hope that the newly merged entity will be named ...... XM
(I've never liked the name sirius)
Squizz better not be going anywhere.
shade 45 is real good minus the G-UNOT saturdays but i really hope they replace sirius backspin with Xm the rhyme! they play more b'sides and more songs then backspin!
BBC Radio 1 > U-Pop
Greyfurgang,
Don't sweat it Greyfurgang. Remember, you too will have HD Radio sooner than later, with satradio's failure after this pump and dump, and according to past posts it is much superior.
Who's posts. A bunch of NAB shills that also said the merger would never happen .Please.
I have stated in the past that in the event of the demise of Satrad I will turn to MP3s, CDs, or Slacker on a portable before I will go back to Terrestrial or buy a HD radio.
Hopefully this wont happen but a worse economy could do what the NAB couldn't so I wont say it couldn't happen.
Tate is pulling back, per R&R via NYRMB
http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/NewsStoryPage.aspx?ContentID=xsh%2f%2f7sBmjw%3d&Version=1
Tate has just announced she is undecided---
http://siriusbuzz.com/new-report-indicates-tate-still-undecided.php
By Lee's definition, O&A should be safe. Does any other channel have an Army of Pests?
202 and squizz are the only 2 channels i care about. If mellie boy fucks with either im out, I am not wasting my money on shit!
I have to agree with the person who said XM Squizz better not go anywhere. Sirius Octane is horrid. Octane has too much talk and promos over the beginning of songs. They try to sound like FM exept without the commericals. The selection of music is simliar now but the presentation of each channel is very different. Squizz wins hands down.
Um, Ryan, what happened to my post? :(
The ones that have me most worried are the unique channels that have small audiences, especially those XM channels that have no Sirius 'counterpart': Beyond Jazz, Deep Tracks, Fine Tuning, Cinemagic, X-Country, among others. Consolidate other channels; don't just blow away the good ones.
The ones that have me most worried are the unique channels that have small audiences, especially those XM channels that have no Sirius 'counterpart': Beyond Jazz, Deep Tracks, Fine Tuning, Cinemagic, X-Country, among others. Consolidate other channels; don't just blow away the good ones.
Left of Center > XMU = That doesn't mean XMU stinks.
Left of Center > XMU = That doesn't mean XMU stinks.
"By Lee's definition, O&A should be safe. Does any other channel have an Army of Pests?"
10 listeners is not a army you cunt
back to FM for the "army",wait...cant find 0.0 there either
smash those XM and Terrestrial radios..teach them a lesson
podcast willy
move Mojo to X-country and get rid of outlaw country. Tell the rest of the sirius hack dj's they don't have to hit the post!......
Have both; use Sirius only for Stern, Bubba, Raw Dog, Hartmann; was stuck in the car that has only Sirius for 2 days all day and even switching among music channels confirmed that the playlists are way too short on Sirius. XM's Deep Tracks, XMX, Top Tracks, Fine Tuning, Randi, decades channels (esp. 60's), NHL, Reach MD, CSPAN - vastly better. Put H100/101 on XM and I'm dropping Sirius (well I'm dropping them anyway end of month).
XM better not get rid of Escape ( XM 78 ) . Gotta have that great head - bangin' elevator music .
for me to stay a subscriber The Virus 202 must be left as is! O&A and Ron & Fez must stay! On top of that XMLM, XMU, the Verge, and to a lesser extent ethel need to stick around in their current forms. they are all very good stations.
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