XM Satellite Radio has launched XM HD Surround powered by Neural Audio. This is the first surround sound technology to be offered by any radio company.

Listeners can hear music in XM HD Surround on the free-form music channel Fine Tuning (XM Channel 76) and the classical pops music channel XM Pops (XM Channel 113). XM will also broadcast a variety of upcoming shows and live music performances at the XM studios in 5.1 surround sound. XM HD Surround promises to enrich the listener’s experience with full envelopment and image detail never before available in traditional broadcast.

The first wave of home audio systems capable of playing XM HD Surround are now arriving at retailers. XM HD Surround manufacturing partners include Yamaha, Pioneer, Onkyo, and Denon.  These systems will carry the XM-Ready and Neural Surround logos. 

XM subscribers can connect an XM Connect-and-Play antenna or the upcoming XM Passport cartridge/homedock to the unit to receive the XM signal. 

Bob Dylan's show on XM Satellite Radio was first annouced to debut in March, but with the month nearly at a close it doesn't look likely that the original deadline will be made.

The folks over at the LA Times picked up this little bit as well. They learned that Dylan's show has been delayed because Bob wants to have certain things in a specific way.

"It's definitely going to happen, but it's taking a little longer than originally planned," said XM spokeswoman Anne-Taylor Griffith. "Bob is super involved in the show, and, like with everything he does, he wants it be just a certain way, and it's taking some time…. We've already received several episodes of the show, and they're absolutely fantastic."

Apparently next month XM will be announcing the show's title and schedule and also release some sample playlists with an expected premiere in early May.

[LA Times Calendar Live] 

XM Satellite Radio begins their coverage of the 2006 MLB season this Sunday, April 2nd, with Opening Night in Chicago, as the defending World Series champions Chicago White Sox go against the Cleveland Indians at 8:05 pm ET on XM Channel 180.

Veteran radio announcer and former All-Star pitcher Ed Farmer will deliver play-by-play, with former White sox outfielder Chris Singleton providing commentary. And of course, XM's MLB Home Plate (XM 175) will also be on site at U.S. Cellular Field with pre and post-game coverage.

A full slate of Opening Day games follows on April 3rd, starting with the New York Mets hosting the Washington Nationals at Shea Stadium at 1:10 pm ET (XM 183). MLB games are carried live on XM channels 176 through 189, with Spanish play-by-play and call-in shows on MLB En Espanol (XM channel 190). Get the lineup of XM's MLB game broadcasts on XM's website.

The newest member of XM's broadcast family is Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. "Big Papi" will make regular, weekly appearances on both MLB Home Plate and MLB En Espanol on XM starting the week of April 2nd.

Gary M. Parsons, XM Satellite Radio's Chairman of the Board, just said at the Bank of America Media, Telecom and Entertainment Conference that the Pionner Inno and Samsung Helix next-gen XM2go players will be on retail shelves in April.

This contradicts earlier reports that the release has been pushed back to May.

UPDATE: From the Q&A session of the BofA webcast - Gary Parsons said he would like to have 100,000 Helix/Inno units shipped by mid-April. He said that XM is currently in the manufacturing stage in multiple factories and wants to have signficant quantities available in the "Dads and Grads" timeframe - ie, Father Day. Manufacturing should not be an inhibitor in getting these to market either. Very encouraging to hear.

One thing to note is that it was brought up that many of the units coming out in April have already been spoken for (many of which by current XM subscribers), so while they'll be hitting the shelves in April - if you haven't preordered one, it may be a bit difficult to get a Helix or Inno right away.

BREAKING
According to theflyonthewall:

09:59 EDT XMSR theflyonthewall.com: XM Satellite Radio-XMSR trading higher on take-over speculation-Rumor :theflyonthewall.com

09:57 XMSR XM Satellite: rumor of CBS for XMSR; price talk said to be $27 (21.92 +0.12)

More on this as news develops.
Note: this should be considered a rumor until we find out more.

UPDATE: This from Briefing.com: 

Hearing CBS-for-XMSR chatter making rounds

UPDATE 2: More from Briefing.com:

by: ubscibc

BRF 10:33 XMSR: XM Satellite: Color on takeover chatter [UPDATE]

[Live In Play]

XMSR: XM Satellite: Color on takeover chatter (22.20 +0.40)
[Update]
Following takeover rumors in XMSR today (with CBS cited as a potential buyer... see 9:58 comment), we listened to yesterday's CBS conference call for any possible insight. During the call, CBS was asked directly about Univision (UVN), and their response was "I think Univision is a great company but there are two major issues for us. One is valuation and the other is regulation... other than that it is a wonderful asset." Co stated that they did not think they could clear the first hurdle... Approx 5 minutes later co was asked what they would do with their free cash. Co stated that they want to pay dividend; thinks that it is a higher threshold of confidence and best use of cash; says they would like to keep increasing the dividend. Co also stated that they are not interested in a large acquisition -- say in the $12-13 bln range -- but could be interested in a smaller acquisition in the $300 mln range (i.e. College Sports TV) that would be fairly valued and would fill a void for the co. Says acquisition has to be attractive and be able to grow... Briefing.com
Note: Given yesterday's comments by CBS, with a market cap of approx $5 bln it would not appear that XMSR would fall into the acquisition profile that CBS is interested in.

Briefing.com, Inc.

UPDATE 3: Gary Parsons at the BofA MET Conference stated that he "certainly" wouldn't comment on this rumor.

Network LIVE, the joint venture between XM Satellite Radio, AOL and AEG, will multicast country music's 'Redneck Woman' Gretchen Wilson on Wednesday, April 5th at 9:30pm EST. Part of her first headline tour - entitled "Redneck Revolution" - the concert will be broadcast live on AOL Music and XM Satellite Radio's Highway 16 Channel.

If you miss it, no worries, because the performance will air on DirecTV later, or available on demand at AOLMusic.com.

[Press Release] 

USA Today has an interesting article about XM's latest commercial by Mullen Advertising featuring Snoop walking around the XM Studios looking for his chain. If you need a refresher you can watch the commercial spots here: Low Quality | High Quality.

The interesting thing about the article isn't really because it's about the commercial - because many of us have probably seen it at least a couple times. Instead, it's the AdTrack featurette that USA Today displays on the right that sparked my interest.

Of those surveyed, 17% "liked the ad a lot" - that's versus the 21% AdTrack average. Females tended to like it much more than males (23% vs 10% respectively) and only 12% thought the ad was effective (as opposed to the 20% AdTrack average).

I have my own personal opinion about the spot (verdit: boring) but I'm curious about everyone elses. Do you like this XM commercial, better or worse than say this one?

(And on a side note, there's this spoof Sirius commercial that would never make the air.) 

XM Satellite Radio has just officially unveiled its new channel lineup, with the addition of 10 new music channels and 7 regional news/talk channels, bringing the total number of channels to 170.

The bump in music channels brings the number of commercial-free channels to 69. As we know, both XM Chill and Big Tracks were added earlier this month, and here's the official lineup of the new music channels being added during April and May:

U.S. Country (XM Channel 17): Country Superstars of the 80s & 90s
Flight 26 (XM Channel 26): Modern Hits of the 90's & Now
XM Hitlist (XM Channel 30): Today's Hit Music
enLighten (XM Channel 34): Southern Gospel
XM Liquid Metal (XM Channel 42): Heavy Metal
The Heat (XM Channel 68): Rhythmic Top 40
Escape (XM Channel 78): Easy Listening
Viva (XM Channel 91): Latin Pop Hits

XM will also introduce six more regional news/talk channels in late spring/early summer. These will individually be announced when they're ready, but they'll be similar to the WLW addition we saw earlier this month. These seven regional news and talk channels are provided by Clear Channel Communications will be part of a new category on the channel guide called "Regional News, Talk & Music Channels."

This new category will also include Clear Channel-programmed music channels KISS, MIX, Nashville, and Sunny, plus the launch of WSIX, with country personality Gerry House live from Nashville. As we all know, Clear Channel will start carrying commercials on these music channels in May, so they are grouped separately from XM's lineup of 69 commercial-free music channels on the new channel guide. (Very good move by XM in my opinion.)

Other changes include some renaming of channels:

XM 32 The Fish -> The Message
XM 52 Unsigned -> The Verge
XM 90 Alegria -> Fuego
XM 165 Ask -> Talk Radio
XM 172 Franc Parler -> SportPlus (Broadcast in French)

The Torch, Music Lab, The Flow, and Luna will be making the move to XM Radio Online, DirecTV and AOL.

Download the entire new XM Channel Lineup here (PDF) or visit the XM Radio New Lineup page to read more.