The XM Satellite Radio MLB Home Plate broadcast team is headed down to Nashville next week for baseball’s annual winter meetings.

If you’re a hardcore baseball fan, the winter meetings have more twists and turns than a Telemundo soap opera... just, without the cleavage and snazzy soundtrack. Baseball's bigwigs come to gather at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland hotel for four days of trading and deal-making.

And XM's MLB Home Plate (ch 175) will have live, round-the-clock coverage of the meetings from December 3rd to December 6th.

XM on-air hosts Mark Patrick, Buck Martinez, Charley Steiner, Kevin Kennedy, Billy Ripken, Ronnie Lane, and Joe Castellano will be on site to report on the latest deals, day and night.

MLB Home Plate will be stationed at multiple locations in the hotel to deliver breaking news as it happens. The live coverage from Nashville starts Monday morning at 6am ET.

It’s sweet relief for baseball addicts counting the days until spring training.

XM subscribers will be able to hear seven different broadcasts of the 2007 Big 12, SEC, and ACC football championship games this Saturday, December 1st.

XM Sports Nation will also be live from the three host cities with exclusive pre-game coverage on Friday and Saturday.

• Top-ranked Missouri plays no. 9 Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday at 8 pm ET and XM will air the national radio broadcast on Big 12 Channel 241.
• The SEC Championship Game pits fifth-ranked LSU against no. 14 Tennessee on Saturday at 4pm ET. XM will air the national radio broadcast on SEC Channel 199, the LSU broadcast on SEC Channel 200 and the Tennessee broadcast on SEC Channel 201.
• The ACC Championship Game will kick off Saturday at 1pm ET as sixth-ranked Virginia Tech takes on no. 12 Boston College. XM will air the national radio broadcast on ACC channel 190, the Boston College broadcast on ACC channel 191 and the Virginia Tech broadcast on ACC channel 192.

XM Sports Nation (ch 144) anchor T.J. Rives will be live from SEC Fanfare in Atlanta on the AT&T Press Box stage for game previews on Friday 6-9am ET and 1-3pm ET; and Saturday 10am - 2pm ET. XMSN analyst Gino Torretta will join sportscaster Earl Forcey in Jacksonville, Florida, for pre- game coverage of the ACC championship on Friday 1-3pm ET and Saturday 7-10am ET. XMSN's Scott Jackson and Kevin Blackistone will be at San Antonio's Alamodome to preview the Big 12 championship on Saturday from 3pm to 7pm ET.

Check out more info on XM's coverage of Championship Saturday here.

XM, who yesterday announced the signing of the NHL Commissioner for his own XM talk show, will be the title sponsor of the NHL All-Star fan ballot (which starts today).

The NHL lets the fans cast votes to decide who plays in the starting line-up for the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star starters for the annual NHL All-Star Game. You can cast votes online at nhl.com, and U.S. fans can also cast votes on Verizon wireless phones.

Voting takes place starting today, November 13th through January 2nd. The 2008 NHL All-Star Game itself is on January 27th in Atlanta.

Being the title sponsor of the XM/NHL All-Star Fan Balloting gives XM a ton of visibility in front of devote NHL fans. And here's a good move: everyone who registers to vote gets a 14-day trial to XM Radio Online.

XM is also throwing in daily prizes like XpressRC radios with 3-months of service included. Select NHL arenas and the new NHL Powered by Reebok store in NYC will have NHL.com voting kiosks. And the balloting is heavily promoted in the NHL's "Vote Now, Vote Often" print, broadcast, online and wireless advertising campaigns.

More deets in the NHL press release.

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes will host his own weekly, three-hour show on XM Satellite Radio during the baseball off-season.

The "Eric Byrnes Show" debuts this Saturday, November 17th, at 12-noon ET on XM's MLB Home Plate (ch 175) and will air on Saturdays all the way until spring training.

Not only is Byrnes devling deep into the world of satellite radio (a weekly 3-hour show is better than most), but he's the first active MLB player to host his own satellite radio show. He's no amateur though, having had been an in-demand sports analyst for FOX Sports and ESPN, as well as having hosted an off-season radio show at KNBR-AM in San Francisco last year.

Byrnes signed a three-year contract extension with the Diamondbacks in August 2007. He made his major league debut with the Oakland A's in 2000. After stints in Colorado and Baltimore, Byrnes joined Arizona in 2006.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, as well as a smattering of other League executives, will be getting their very own weekly live talk show on XM Satellite Radio.

Entitled "NHL Hour," a rotation of League executives will be hosting the show, including Commissioner Bettman, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, and Senior Executive VP of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. The execs will co-host the interactive talk show with XM sports host and former NHL player Bill Clement.

"NHL Hour" will broadcast live from the NHL/XM studio in the NHL Powered By Reebok store in Manhattan.

Set to debut on Tuesday, November 27th, at 4pm ET on NHL Home Ice (ch 204), encore broadcasts will air at various times on XM and will also be available for download on NHL.com as a podcast.

Then on December 6th, "NHL Hour" will begin airing on its regular slot every Thursday at 4pm ET.

To submit questions to "NHL Hour," call 1-877-NHL-ON-XM or email HOMEICE@xmradio.ca.

Baseball's over, but XM's keeping it alive during the off-season on their 24-hour baseball talk radio channel MLB Home Plate (ch 175).

First there's the Derek Jeter "Baseball Confidential" where the all-star shortstop sat down with MLB Home Plate host Buck Martinez in July for an hour-long interview.

The Derek Jeter interview will air today (November 8th) at 6pm ET/3pm PT for the premiere episode of the second season of “Baseball Confidential.” The Yankee's captain talked candidly about life on and off the field in the interview taped in front of a live audience at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC (a taping that I had the privilege of attending).

“Baseball Confidential” features in-depth interviews with the greats of the game every Thursday during the off-season, with encore broadcasts through the weekend. Other guests on “Baseball Confidential” this season include Tony Gwynn, Earl Weaver, Mike Schmidt, and Harry Kalas. If you miss it, don't worry, there will be a whole slew of encore broadcasts and it's worth the listen (even if you hate the Yankees).

Then there's a marathon broadcast of 2007 postseason during Thanksgiving week, where the biggest games of the 2007 postseason will air back-to-back on MLB Home Plate. XM will replay every game of the 2007 World Series and the two league championship series, plus select games from the division series. The marathon broadcast will start Wednesday, November 21st, at 6am ET/3am PT and ends Monday, November 26th, at 6am ET/3am PT.

XM will also air live coverage of the MLB Winter Meetings where general managers will gather in Nashville and XM will be there for live coverage for the full four days. The MLB Home Plate team will be in the center of the action at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel to deliver breaking news on the biggest deals. It all starts December 3rd, and ends December 6th with the Rule 5 draft.

And if that's not enough and you want to relive more of this year's greatest moments, there's “2007 Rewind.” MLB Home Plate will cover all the news of the past season, from Barry Bonds’ record-breaking homer to the Boston Red Sox’ second World Series title in four years. “Rewind” specials will also focus on each of the four teams to make it to the LCS: Boston, Colorado, Cleveland, and Arizona. When the new year arrives, the focus shifts to spring training and predictions for the upcoming season.

For more deets, dates and times check out xmradio.com/mlb.

Starting tomorrow November 6th, XM Satellite Radio will tip off the 2007-2008 college basketball season with over 1,000 games from all six power conferences.

With the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC under its belt, XM will host their college basketball games on about 17 sports play-by-play channels.

XM is also home to "Basketball and Beyond with Coach K," the weekly radio show hosted by Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. His show airs Wednesdays at 9am ET on XM Sports Nation (ch 144), with encores at various times through the week. Coach K and sportscaster Dave Sims talk college basketball and discuss the coach's personal perspective on principles for life on and off the court.

XM covers 16 of the top 25 teams in the pre-season ESPN/USA Today college basketball poll which includes the top-ranked North Carolina. In March, XM will be the exclusive satellite radio network for the conference basketball tournaments for each of the six power conferences.

Tomorrow, Kentucky will host Central Arkansas at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The game will serve as XM's debut college basketball broadcast and will air on XM channel 199 at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

A weekly schedule of college basketball games on XM will be available at xmradio.com/collegesports.