Satellite Radio Merger Brings Changes for XM Listeners
I've been an XM fan since I first got it in my car back in May 2006. Aside from the fact that its baseball channels allow me to listen to Toronto Blue Jays games 2,500 miles from Toronto, I enjoyed its commercial-free alternative rock channels and the ability to listen to it everywhere (XM's signal strength has always been better).
With the Sirius-XM merger, more than just the companies have merged. Both channel line-ups have now been dramatically alterred as well. Channels have been dropped, several have been added and a huge number have been renamed to match equivelent channels. For instance, XM's Ethel now adopts Sirius' Alt Nation label, while Sirius Gold adopts XM's 50s on 5. (The neat XM channel graphics that used to pop up on my portable XM player have also been replaced by simple font and colors. Boo.)
However, it's not just names that have changed, so has programming. While Sirius' Alt Nation and XM's Ethel offered basically the same alternative rock hits, I'm disappointed that XM's Lucy has been replaced by Sirius Lithium. Both were always supposed to feature alternative rock from the 1990s, and yet whenever I listen to Lithium, I never seem to recognize the song -- and I was there in the '90s. I'll be interested to see what Karl Brauer, our resident 80s satellite radio channel expert, has to say about Sirius Big 80s becoming 80s on 8 -- he enjoyed the former, hated the latter.
Another thing to consider is that unique Sirius channels like Howard Stern, NASCAR, NFL play-by-play, Martha Stewart and her exact opposite channel, Playboy, will now cost extra on XM. At the same time, Oprah & Friends, NBA and NHL play-by-play, PGA putt-by-putt, college sports and IndyCar will be available on Sirius. Both amount to a $4 per month increase, although there are currently special offers. I don't really get this. If I don't pay for NBA with XM, why must I pay for it with Sirius?
This brings me back to the beginning: MLB stations. They aren't on that list of XM channels being available on Sirius. I don't need Oprah & Friends, I need Cito & Friends. From what I can tell, Sirius-XM does not yet have an agreement with MLB but is working on it. Double your efforts and give me back Lucy while you're at it.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor
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- James Riswick December 2, 2008, 6:00 AM
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I'm still ticked that XM got rid of Chrome, channel 83. It was all disco, all the time, and it was good stuff! I'm serious, I loved that station. The Groove on channel 64 is a poor substitute, in my opinion. Grrrrr.....
My mother said the same thing to me about Chrome.
-James Riswick
In addition to Lucy and Ethel, I mourn the loss of XM's Squizz. Sirius' Faction is not the same and I can't stand the talk shows on this station that preempt the music.