XM and Sirius channels merge at long last
By Donald Melanson 
posted November 12th 2008 1:09PM
posted November 12th 2008 1:09PM
It's been a long, long time coming but the once separate XM and Sirius universes are now finally, officially intermingling, resulting in some new channels, some renamed channels, some moved channels, and no doubt quite a bit of confusion for satellite radio listeners. The short of it is that XM users can expect to find 22 new channels, while Sirius listeners get 11 (mostly music channels), with a whole slew of other channels either moved, renamed, or both. Dig into the links below for the complete details, and expect to wait two to five minutes to receive the update if you haven't already turned on your radio today.Read - XM Satellite Radio New Channel Lineup
Read - Sirius Satellite Radio New Channel Lineup
I canceled my account today. I was a subscriber with two radios for over four years on Sirius. I called the first time and was transfered to a retention department where the nice woman offered me a free month but after thinking about it more I decided I wanted to make a point with them and canceled. First they took Punk away in July then BoomBox and Backspin, nothing else I like on there anymore.
Kinda looks like the Sirius dog is farting.
Son of a Monkey!! they killed the punk channel.
They wanted to push the merger through while the Bush administration was still on the throne.
De-regulation sure has helped a lot in the last 8 years, no? Just look at the stock mark....real est...nevermind
As long as they kept my XM BPM channel, I'm content. It's shame some customers aren't happy, but I think they were expecting that.
Any word on those interoperable radios? Is there any point for them now since the channels are merged now?
Seems pretty pointless to me as well. Unless they intend to kill off one of the satellite fleets at some point.
Somewhat annoyed with this change as well!
One of the main reasons I have loved XM since I got it for the free 3 months with my new car was The System (XM 82) because of the amazing trance played on there - especially having Armin Van Buuren's A State Of Trance in my car on the radio every Thursday was a pure treat! I don't see ASoT on either channel lineup (80 or 81) and it will be extremely missed by me and probably leave me a LOT less likely to renew my one year contract when it expires.
Bring back XM 82 The System!
dude i know, i'm so ticked.... i hardly listened to bpm or the move because they just played clubby girl type stuff, i loved the system though because it mostly played awesome trance and introduced me to a lot of new artists and tracks.... I listened to xm chill too... but they even changed that...eh, i heard beck on chill today, beck! Maybe they've had him on there before, idk, i like his music, but he just doesn't seem like the chilled music type. meh, meh to it all. maybe if enough people complain/ cancel they will change things back. will miss a statte of trance, that's for sure.
I just saw this morning that Hard Attack had been changed to Liquid Metal. I hope they don't change DJ's. Or at least keep Jose, the best DJ evar! Hard Attack was a much cooler name too. Anyway I normally listen to Hard Attack or Hair Nation or Octane. Then CNN and BBC. I hope they don't change much more, I really liked Sirius!
Sirius canceled the Disco channel as well. The only reason I went with Sirius was I liked their playlists better since it was more mainstream than the deep, deep B-side crap that XM plays. I barely listen to Sirius now because the Audio quality is so compressed and muddled I can barely hear it, now they changed everything that I listened to - all but 2 of my presets were gone this morning. I was hoping with the merger they would just augment with the XM Channels - like bringing over all their Artist Channels - Madonna, Mariah, Janet, etc. But not screw everything else up.
i was just starting to like boombox when i turned my radio on today and BAM!!! some stupid pop2k crap was on. UGH
and now sirius ditched the beat 36 and replaced it with BPM? i never liked BPM when i listened to it in my friend's car on XM...
i thought they were going to ADD channels, not remove all my good ones :(
they turned hip hip nation from an uncensored station into a censored one...seriously if i wanted censored radio i would listen to it for free
Yea I agree!
That is one of the things that pissed me off the most about this. I pay money to hear the music how it should be.
If they don't fix all this by next month I'm canceling all 3 of my radios.
Thanks for killing 65 The Rhyme, you assholes! You hear that sound? It's the sound of my money staying in my wallet...
This explains everything! I was out in my truck yesterday fixing my XM (a connector had come loose and was allowing some alternator whine into the system). My wife knew that I was working on MY XM, so this evening she asked me what I did to HER XM...her presets were all different.
LOL...that's awesome. =)
Like everyone else posting here, I lost 4 of my favorite channels today. I originally switched from Sirius to XM because of the pocket sized receiver, but really enjoyed the music channels much more on XM.
I likely won't renew my subscription. I'll likely just upgrade my phone's data plan and stream internet radio. Satellite radio is a fantastic concept, but has been handled just atrociously by the FCC. Tying hardware to service is just the wrong way to go. Part of the FCC's duty is to define transmission standards, and until they do, the US will continue to be a backwater.
At least my BPM (Sirius 36/XM 81) is still there...the only channel (besides MLB play-by-play) I care about! Other than that, this merger is lame and royally sucks you know what!
America's Premier Dance Channel!!!! BEATS PER MINUTE!
Boombox 39 is gone?! As an alternative, it's suggested I listed to AltNation?!? Is that some lazy programmer's idea of a joke?
That's like replacing Elvis with Flavor Flav.
Boombox had truly unique music and introduced me to a LOT of new music and artists.
Has anyone shown this thread to Mel Karmazin?
One last question:
Anyone got enough spare change to take 200 shares of SIRI off my hands? I'm accepting food stamps and interesting trades.
No Backspin... I'm going back to the iPod. Certainly lost a customer Sirius. And XM did also, since my girlfriend lost a couple of channels she listened to.
I had Sirius. I got XM with my car two years ago and absolutely preferred Squizz over Octane. On my way home today I heard Primus for the first time in two years.
I called and canceled my XM subscription.
I disagree, Squizz and its DJs were great. Squizz was the only channel I listened to for the past 3 years.
With few exceptions there wasn't a song played on Squizz that made me want to change the channel. (One exception: Kid Rock. I'd wake up early on a Saturday to kick his ass at the Waffle House of his choice. Another exception: Hollywood Undead. Don't you have to be an established chart-topping band for a few years before you can make a song attacking your critics and talking about how hard you've worked to get where you are? They come across as "Gangsta Emo", just a bunch of whining and complaining mixed with bragging and cursing.)
Anyway, I'm relieved that Bodhi and Grant Random have been added to Octane's DJ roster. Today Bodhi blogged the new schedule on his MySpace page:
Covino 6a ET/3 PT
Kayla 11a ET/8 PT
Bodhi 4p ET/1 PT
Grant 9p ET/6 PT
Agreed 100%. Squizz rules. Grant and Bodhi are the best.
I'm generally pretty forgiving of changes like this - I can probably learn to accept BPM as a possibly replacement to The Beat, but 50% of my listening time was on Boombox and there is NO equivalent at all offered now.
If they wish to consolidate channels, that's fine - but they need to merge the playlists as well. Don't remove EVERY freaking song on an entire channel from the whole lineup! If there isn't a similar channel to put it, then DON'T GET RID OF THAT CHANNEL!
Just sent them a pi$$ed off email, which will be followed up by a cancellation of service if I don't start hearing my old music somewhere else, REALLY soon.
I've had XM since it was new and have convinced many friends it was worthwhile to pay for their radio. I can no longer do that with a clear conscience after seeing how little regard the owners of this company have for their customer base. All of the channels on my preset list are gone, replaced by crappy "sort of' similar channels that I am too pissed off to even try to like at the moment. Over the last couple of years XM has occasionally deleted a channel I have liked, but I always had other channels that I could switch to on my favorites. With one fell swoop last night they killed them all. I'd love to think that bitching about it on some online bbs would have some effect, but its very obvious that the management of SiriusXM could give two s___ about what you, me, or anyone thinks of their programming. I've browsed the net a bit today looking for commentary like this and I have to say, I have yet to see a single comment that treats this as a favorable change. The only ones happy about this are the beancounters at SiriusXM headquarters, and I am sure they are just giddy with delight. That's because this is a business; a business running at a huge loss since it started. Neither company was ever able to show a profit and they still can't. I have to believe that a contributing part of the total financial failure of Sirius and XM is the attitude of total indifference with which they treat their customers. These channel "mergers" (I prefer the term massacres) are just another glaring example of that disdain. And yet, we all now own the equipment, whether it came with our cars or we had it installed. Which is why they can treat us this way. They know that most people are not going to be willing to sacrifice the investment in that equipment to have it sit idle in their dashboard. Bitch or not, many of us will probably go right on subscribing to XM or Sirius because we would feel guilty knowing we had wasted good money on equipment we aren't using. Why should they care? If you've ever dealt with their customer (dis)service people, you will know how little they care. OK... therapeutic typing rant over.
So what channel can I hear the new Vanilla Ice CD on?
Hypothetically.
Here's how my presets changed:
- The Vault: gone, replaced by XM Deep Tracks. Not sure if that's good or bad.
- Buzzsaw: gone, replaced by Boneyard, which isn't broadcasting until 1/1/09. Right now it's AC/DC Radio. I like AC/DC, but I like variety more.
Oh, and my radio still can't get the Best of XM package, so no NHL or MLB for me, which is all I wanted out of XM's service to begin with.
Good thing my billing period ends next month. Looks like I'll be getting an extra $13 a month back in my budget for Christmas!
You're kidding about both sides getting new channels, right?
Cuz when I was listening to my radio yesterday, it looks more like they took all the good XM channels and flushed them down the drain, and replaced them with overplayed radio hits and DJ chatter. A great day indeed!
-m.
I'm going to preach an alternative to you all canceling. Take that money saved, go buy a Zune and get a Zune Pass. All you can eat music for $14.99. plug your zune into the aux port and play away. And the auto playlist maker will give you a rotation MUCH more suyperior to XM or Sirius. I'm guessing they will have most of the stuff you all are missing from Boombox and Backspin.
I can't believe that I am the first person to mention (after a quick skim I will admit) that the sound quality BLOWS for satellite radio. It is compressed so much that it sounds like the music is coming through tin cans in the trunk!!! Am I alone here??
Now a lot more people know how I felt when they canceled Fungus. XM might not notice when a couple of hundred disgruntled punks jump ship but it will be hard to ignore the mass exodus now. Vote with your dollars, cancel XM, and F$#% Jon Zellner.
As a long-time Sirius subscriber, it looks to me as though XM folks gained more by getting Howard Stern, Martha Stewart (...choke...), and the NFL that Sirius subscribers got in Oprah (...choke...), NHL (...sux...)...NOT getting MLB. It also appears that XM has quite a few more music stations than Sirius too. This really blows.
Sirius, Your management has made a hugh mistake by removing backspin. It was one of a kind old school channel, your primary target market grew up listening to this music. I got my sirius radio with my new car and told my wife that I would continue the service because this was the only place I could here backspin, which I listen to everyday. I can here all the other crap on any radio station. Why didn't you merge some of the hip hop, country or classic stations, they all sound a like, you could have even merged the comedy stations. In stead of listening to sirius I listened to FM all day. Why because they played the same stuff on Sirus plus they had local information about Memphis. Without BackSpin I have to reason to listen to Sirus except for an occasional channel 40 or the Fox station. Please reconsider this move and soon.
Signed
Very upset customer.
no more XMU, XM Chill - I know the names are the same, but the programming is completely off. Radio sucks again.
Where is the al la Carte 50 Plan they promised when they begged FCC for the merger of both companies?
If they don't make it available, I'm canceling at the end of the year!
I don't think that your merger with XM was in your benefit or your customers. Your music has definitely changed & not for the better since your updating on Nov 12, 2008. My husband & I are avid listeners of the Oldies (50's & 60's) channeles 5 & 6 on the old Siruis, but the new music is really awfull. In fact when we listen to the radio we are always changing the channel because only about 1 in 4 songs are decent to listen to. I also enjoyed Movin' Easy (channel 4), hopefully the Escape 76 channel is as good. Will you have Holiday music again this year? Can we get Oprah's radio show? I truely hope we can get the "old" Oldies back that we had before your updating last week. I doubt very much that the 40's channel will have very many listeners, it's really not very good. We have 2 accounts with Siruis & I'm considering cancelling both of them unless your music library goes back to what you had before the update.
If this merge is bothering you, and it should, go check out this site www.siruslyscrewed.com/ my subs run out dec 24th and have been officially cancelled. goodbye radio executives!!
If I'm right, all this complaining about programming changes will shift gears & turn to complaints of signal loss & being screwed out of subscription money when (not if) Sirius/XM files bankruptcy. If not already, they are about to be de-listed from the NASDAQ stock exchange. That happens when the stock price falls below a dollar for more than 90 days. SIRI has been below $1.00 a share since September and just yesterday their share price was 16 cents. For more than a year XM subscriptions could pretty easily be obtained for as little as $77 (the price you get when you threaten to cancel, or the price you get when your 3-mo. introductory subscription is expiring and you do a little arm-twisting). Since the merger, the $77 price hasn't changed. You can still get it (for a single receiver) if you're willing to haggle. Sirius/XM also has recently informed the SEC that their 3rd quarter report will be late. That's not a good sign boys & girls.
The commercial-free channels are nice, but they don't do much for revenue-generation at a time when the company is cash-poor and struggling to stay alive. Their operating costs are not being covered by subscriptions. The merger happened because both companies realized there wasn't a sufficient revenue stream (subscriptions) to support two competing services. Unfortunately it would appear that there's still not enough to support even one.
I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but it sure doesn't look good for the future of Sirius/XM.