Merged lineup goes into effect tonight:
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/breaking-new-xm-channel-lineup.html

11/11/2008 7:05:58 PM

As a side note I'm enjoying my last 5 hours of SquiZZ ever.

11/11/2008 7:07:38 PM

oh wow...guess i'll have to change my xm presets in the morning....

so sirius and xm will both have the same channel lineup now?
i have xm and my wife has sirius...so we are the same now?

how come this one is different?
http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/channel_guide.pdf

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 7:12 PM. Reason : yea]

11/11/2008 7:10:38 PM

Because it isn't November 12 yet?

So this is XM everything w/ best of Sirius, which I have. Sirius everything w/ best of XM must be different... I know that Sirius doesn't have MLB yet...

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 7:21 PM. Reason : what is equivalent to Lucy 54?]

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 7:24 PM. Reason : sucks they got rid of The City too... oh well]

11/11/2008 7:18:53 PM

It affects all of XM listeners:
http://www.xmfan.com/files/NEW_CHANNEL_LINEUP_XM_LINEUP.pdf
http://www.xmfan.com/files/NEW_CHANNEL_LINEUP_QA_LINEUP.pdf
http://www.xmfan.com/files/NEW_CHANNEL_LINEUP_XMRO_LISTING_LINEUP.pdf

Part of the problem is that it has all been hear-say for the past few days. The lineup itself was leaked to orbitcast and all info leading up to this. Sirius XM has been rather prickish about it all by not releasing any details.

A lot of people found out about this yesterday when they put out a full page ad with a few spoilers on what channels would be staying in USA Today:
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/sirius-xm-merged-channel-lineup-revealed-in-usa-today.html

If you look at the bottom right corner of "NEW_CHANNEL_LINEUP_XM_LINEUP.pdf" from the above link, you'll see it goes into affect tomorrow. That's why the guide pdf is different.

Nobody really knows the full of extent of what the hell is going on with the Sirius side of this. They are definitely being affected, but XM is getting hit harder.

11/11/2008 7:31:30 PM

I'm actually thrilled with the merger. As a XM subscriber I get all four major sports leagues, every bigtime college game and a whole bunch of BETTER Sirius channels.

I don't see any old school hip-hop or even late 90s hip-hop selection though, which sucks...

11/11/2008 7:33:51 PM

Don't get me wrong, this is a good idea from a business point of view. The company is in a debt hole so deep right now they might as well be clear to China. It would be stupid to not consolidate like-channels. I just wish they'd give more of a heads up on crap like this. They've never been really good at PR or customer service.

Also XM snagged away the NBA from Sirius as a result of the merger:
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/nba-gets-officially-official-on-xm-and-sirius.html

I'm all about prolonging upgrading my plan to the "Best of Sirius" package.

11/11/2008 7:44:03 PM

Wow, I'm glad I came across this or else I would have been confused as hell during tomorrow morning's drive

It sucks to see Top Tracks (46) and Lucy (54) go. I loved those stations. I hope they stick with the XM playlist for those channels and just change the names.

Ethel 47 has been lacking lately so hopefully Alt Nation is a step up.

BTW...what the hell is with 161 (Rock@Random) having commercials?

11/11/2008 9:16:57 PM

so are XM and Sirius the same thing now or what?

11/11/2008 9:27:27 PM

Ok, I have had XM forever, I was seriously like subscriber #105... but I havent kept track of any of this... do I need to do anything different or will I get all of the new package? need to upgrade any equipment? plans?

11/11/2008 9:31:06 PM

my wife has sirius...will she have the same playlist as me now? (I have xm)

11/11/2008 9:41:53 PM

im loving Sirius 12 led zeppelin

11/11/2008 9:44:18 PM

thank god they finally got NFL on XM


im wondering the same thing Jaybee is though, i got in early and would like to know.

11/12/2008 12:27:09 AM

buying another radio cuz mine shit the bed. sux that i dont get a deal and gotta pya 75 to switch my lifetime subscription.

11/12/2008 12:31:53 AM

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/audio-program-director-thanks-management-on-air.html



[Edited on November 12, 2008 at 2:14 AM. Reason : -]

11/12/2008 2:14:09 AM

As far as equipment goes, I think you should be fine. Channels have been added/removed/renamed since the satellites first went live and this is not really any different, just on a more massive scale. The only think I can see is perhaps a bit of lag while your player gets the new station info when you first tune in today.

11/12/2008 2:16:42 AM

what the fuck happened to hitlist, ethel, and the system?!

at least they kept air musique...

EVAN'S NOT HAPPY

and WHAT THE FUCK?!!?!? they got rid of beyond jazz and fine tuning?! and vox?!!

XM has seriously fucked up here...

11/12/2008 2:20:38 AM

also, if you want your radio to get the channel list faster, call and have XM resend the activation signal to your radio - when your radio picks up its ID in the stream it will refresh your activation which in turn refreshes your program guide.

11/12/2008 2:32:00 AM

As long as I get BPM, because 'The Beat' on sirius was one of the worst electronic channels ever.

11/12/2008 2:44:32 AM

http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/lineup.xmc
http://www.sirius.com/newlineup

[Edited on November 12, 2008 at 6:17 AM. Reason : -]

11/12/2008 6:06:47 AM

looks like we (Sirius) lost the Left of Center name in favor of XMU. But the LOC crew is still on air. Hopefully they'll mix in XMU's playlist, i felt LOC getting stale.

11/12/2008 8:07:52 AM

i have the $9.99 Mostly Music package, and i lost Channel 161 (Rock@Random) with the new lineup

11/12/2008 10:20:17 AM

Thank God BPM is still in effect!

11/12/2008 1:29:56 PM

i love the new lineup

11/12/2008 3:41:17 PM

This blows

11/12/2008 3:43:27 PM

i dont know if i like the new lineup on sirius, although the first song I heard on the 90's on 9 station was OPP

11/12/2008 10:21:14 PM

where'd my Buzzsaw go??

and i guess led zeppelin radio 12 was just a limited time thing

11/12/2008 10:27:49 PM

^
Zepp channel is now either 32 or 33..was listening to it on the way home tonight.

11/12/2008 11:14:38 PM

new line-up is ok by me. but only ok.

11/13/2008 12:22:08 AM

Buzzsaw being replaced by Boneyard = I never really liked any station on XM.
I'm also not exactly thrilled about them moving the AC/DC channel to the buzzsaw replacement. I like AC/DC but not that much. The Zeppelin channel is fine by me though.

11/13/2008 1:38:22 AM

I only listen to the talk/sports/comedy channels 99% of the time and they are all intact

11/13/2008 2:48:20 AM

Is Sirius going to sound better (sound quality) now that its merged with XM (better bandwidth)? Sirius music channels sound like ass to me, like highly compressed internet radio.

11/13/2008 3:50:58 AM

No more XM 65 The Rhyme
No more XM 66 Raw (fine by me actually, hate mz kitty)
No more XM 101 The Joint ?

11/13/2008 5:38:15 AM

^the joint is definitely still on there.

i was listening to it on sirius yesterday

11/13/2008 7:46:54 AM

Is the "home" antenna substantially better than the "car" antenna. I cant get specs on either one.

11/13/2008 9:59:51 AM

Quote :

"Is Sirius going to sound better (sound quality) now that its merged with XM (better bandwidth)? Sirius music channels sound like ass to me, like highly compressed internet radio."

from the sound of it, they're just rebroadcasting the sirius feed from the satellite... alt nation sounds WORSE on my xm receiver than it does on my friend's sirius receiver...


this fucking BLOWS. i've been an XM subscriber basically since they first existed, and i'm seriously considering canceling my subscription...

11/13/2008 10:48:29 AM

yeah, the XM signal is noticeably compressed. A strong FM signal sounds much better than XM right now.

now that they've merged, they have twice the number of satellites but the same number of channels...can't they redistribute the channels among all the satellites to reduce the compression?

11/13/2008 12:39:55 PM

no more backspin or other old school rap stations. what a shame.

11/13/2008 12:59:50 PM

i'm not sure about this, actually.

i just want the metro mix stuff back that was on the city.. is that gone??

[Edited on November 13, 2008 at 2:02 PM. Reason : ]

11/13/2008 1:46:40 PM

you XM listeners should feel privileged to be receiving Lithium now.

If you don't know, it's on your 54.

11/13/2008 2:12:11 PM

i'm reading that everyone prefers lucy to the replacement ^

11/13/2008 2:28:21 PM

Quote :

"now that they've merged, they have twice the number of satellites but the same number of channels...can't they redistribute the channels among all the satellites to reduce the compression?"

Not with any of the current receivers out there now. XM receivers use different chip sets than the Sirius ones in regards to managing satellite signals. There are plans for multi-satellite receivers in the works for next year I think, but for now they have no choice limiting themselves to this.

11/13/2008 2:30:49 PM

Quote :

"i'm reading that everyone prefers lucy to the replacement ^"

everyone is wrong. Lucy was terrible.

[Edited on November 13, 2008 at 2:33 PM. Reason : ]

11/13/2008 2:33:26 PM

those people will come to realize that Lucy had nothing on Lithium after its all said and done.

11/13/2008 2:39:25 PM

Lucy = 80s through now alternative music

Lithium = 90s awesomeness

11/13/2008 2:56:54 PM

As I said before, XM stations pretty much sucked for music selection. Sirus is great. Lucy blows and Lithium rocks. Octane is pretty great too.

11/13/2008 3:32:40 PM

Quote :

"As I said before, XM stations pretty much sucked for music selection. Sirus is great. Lucy blows and Lithium rocks. Octane is pretty great too."

I could say the exact inverse of what you said for Sirius. To each their own. XM had deeper playlists than Sirius, which is why I initially went with XM. Now the merger seems to have killed the music aspect of the service.

11/13/2008 6:37:06 PM

Quote :

"XM had deeper playlists than Sirius, which is why I initially went with XM. Now the merger seems to have killed the music aspect of the service. "

I agree. as much as I hated the DJ's for XM66 Raw, they replaced the music on that channel with a garbage Eminem channel. I don't know what they replaced the Rhyme with, but I doubt the Sirius equivalent will come close to matching the playlist.

If I wanted to listen to nothing but one artist, such as the grateful dead, zeppelin, jimmy buffet, bruce springstein, and elvis, then I would listen to my mp3 player. The new stations on XM are pathetic.

Between this craptastic music lineup and the lack of new car sales, I foresee sattelite radio going out of business in the next couple of years.

11/13/2008 7:03:50 PM

it isnt like they dont already have millions of customers

11/13/2008 7:12:14 PM

both companies were bleeding out money before the merger, even with all the customers they had. They already have a ton of bad debt from all the stupid contracts they paid out to big name advertisers, and their stock value keeps plummeting. If they don't gain any more new customers yet start losing customers due to the shitty lineup, the only direction they can go is down.

11/13/2008 7:20:01 PM