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Changes met with confusion, contempt

Yesterday was a chaotic day for fans of satellite radio: Sirius XM took the opportunity to shuffle its channel offerings Wednesday, as part of a larger effort to consolidate redundant programming between two formerly-competitive networks.

While XM and Sirius will remain separate networks, much of the programming unique to one network is now available on both. Customers can expect their channel listings to update – if they haven’t already – the next time they power on their satellite radio, and the update is supposed to take between 2 to 5 minutes to download.

Both XM (PDF) and Sirius (PDF) posted their updated channel lineups, as well as a breakdown of specific changes (XM, Sirius).

Reports indicate a fair amount of confusion among satellite radio customers, and fan forums for both networks are buzzing with lamentations over missing stations and contempt for the new offering. Even XM radio DJs Opie & Anthony, who Washington Post blogger Mike Musgrove called “XM’s answer to Howard Stern,” expressed distaste for the seemingly silent switch.

“It's a very exciting and a very sad day for satellite radio,” said Greg ‘Opie’ Hughes on his program Wednesday. His particular complaint centered around the death of the “Audio Visions” channel, which offered a selection of soothing, New Age music. “I guess [subscribers] got the new channel lineup and people are not happy.”

“Satellite, in its inception, was supposed to be this thing with a lot of niche programming,” said partner Anthony Cumia. “Now it seems like they're just kinda going for what is on regular radio, they're wiping out a lot of those little niche programs and stations that people kinda liked.”

Technologoizer notes that fans of both networks are uncomfortable with more than just the “abrupt” channel rearrangement. XM fans objected, for example, to many of the new stations’ habit of identifying themselves more often – a trait reflective of Sirius’ reputedly “more FM” feel.

The Washington Post reported last month that Sirius XM Radio Inc. laid off more than 50 employees after the merge, including on- and off-air talent at stations ranging from oldies to modern rock. At the time, the company provided no comment. Analysts expected the layoffs as to occur as part of the company’s efforts to trim redundancies.

Sirius XM posted a whopping $4.88B third-quarter loss, resulting mostly from an impairment charge that saw the company reducing the value of its assets. Ignoring the charge, company losses are pegged at $217 million despite reportedly strong revenue growth. Its stock price is currently trading at 27 cents, down from $1.50 in August.

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Bad move Sirius
By Lord 666 on 11/13/2008 7:11:09 PM , Rating: 3
Noticed the change by the more chatter on channel 24 while listening to the stream at work yesterday. After driving to a MS conference in Philly and back listening to the channels that are mostly on (116 with family and 24,27,20 w/o) sent the below message to Sirius,

quote:
After 2 years of listening enjoyment, the new channel changes have been extremely disappointing. Before I purchased my car, did the research comparing XM and Sirius with Sirius being the clear upscale choice that focused on music. Because of that difference, I selected my car with a Sirius satellite radio.

One of the best channels in your lineup was 116 in the form of Kids Stuff. It played age appropriate (newborn to 5 years old) music continuously. We actually purchased several CDs of new children's artists after being introduced to them because of their wholesome style.

Now after then channel change to Kids Place live, there is no more continuous music but pure crude garbage. This morning heard some ridiculous session of people talking including a talking Lama that said "shut your pie hole." This is NOT age appropriate and completely crude. Even worse was the reading by Rabbit Ears of the "Emperor and the Nightingale." There is no way this would have ever played on Kids Stuff. It was so boring that my child (a VERY mature 3.5 year old) asked to turn it off.

For my listening tastes, the change of 27 from Hard Attack to Liquid Metal is horrible along with the completely genre change of 24 "Lithuim" now playing non-grunge music. Seriously, New Order's "Blue Monday" was released in 1987!!!! not the 90's grunge scene.

In closing, the Sirius channels should have stayed the same while just ADDING the XM channels. At this time, we are seriously considering cancelling our account due to this poorly executed move.


Going to wait until Monday to make a decision on cancelling.




RE: Bad move Sirius
By tjr508 on 11/13/2008 7:22:15 PM , Rating: 2
Similar concerns here!
I hope they don't mess with Sirius 19, 23 or 104.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By Xaussie on 11/13/2008 7:26:37 PM , Rating: 2
Coming to the end of the three month trial that came with my car and was seriously thinking of subscribing ... and then this. Mostly listen to the comedy channel 150 XM and it just died yesterday. The guys they have doing the banter ... please ... go away, and bring back the funny stuff. And do I really have to spend half my morning commute listening to them tell me what station I'm listening to?

Needless to say I don't think I'll be subscribing.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By quiksilvr on 11/13/2008 8:41:34 PM , Rating: 5
I just have a question about all of this...

Why so Sirius?


RE: Bad move Sirius
By AlexWade on 11/13/2008 10:10:40 PM , Rating: 2
I'm torn. Although I never had Sirius, just XM, people who had both said that Sirius had better music stations. So I was hoping for a merging. Now I actually hear some of them and I get asinine chatter. Worse, some stations sound worse!

They did keep two of my favorite channels: XM Chill and XMU.

However, so far, I'm not happy.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By helios220 on 11/14/2008 10:22:56 AM , Rating: 2
I was a big fan of XM Chill, however if you check it out now the station was actually merged with Sirius Chill to be come XM Sirius Chill (how original!).

The Sirius chill station deviates from the electronica chill-out genre and also plays folkish soft-rock and other coffehouse-esque music... which is now all over XM Chill since the playlists were merged.

I had been looking forward to the merger, hoping it would be more of a best of both worlds type of thing... and while I'm not quite cancel my subscription pissed, I'm certainly far from impressed.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By AlexWade on 11/14/2008 11:09:04 AM , Rating: 2
I haven't had a chance to listen to it a lot, but I'm seriously thinking about canceling. I'm not happy with the merged channels. And I'm not happy by the $4 charge to get the other's exclusives. Since they are the same company, I shouldn't have to pay more. That is a rate hike but done in such a way so they can say "we didn't raise rates".

Sirius is really messing this merger up, and badly.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By Plague421 on 11/13/2008 10:52:20 PM , Rating: 2
As long as Sirius keeps channel 20 (OCTANE) and 28 (FACTION) I will be happy. I usually listen to channel 20 for music and 28 for the Jason Ellis show.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By h0kiez on 11/14/2008 11:25:14 AM , Rating: 2
With all the big name talent on 28 (Ellis, Tony Hawk, Bam, etc.), I seriously doubt they'll mess with it. If they do, I'm gonna have someone's head.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By mmcdonalataocdotgov on 11/14/2008 9:06:26 AM , Rating: 2
I have a similar dilemma, but it has to do with the asinine chatter on XM 150. Sonny Fox was an excellent host, and now it is just some idiot yelling "RAW DAWG!" every 5 minutes. I used to have Sirius and changed to XM since I don't listen to a lot of music, so for the opposite reason. I also didn't like the Sirius FM-like constant self-promotion. And now I have no choice. Back to my own programming for awhile.


RE: Bad move Sirius
By Lord 666 on 11/16/2008 6:55:48 PM , Rating: 2
Over the weekend, we spent a lot of time driving and listening to Sirius. Even my wife can now tell the difference in quality, but with mixed opinions. Her music stations she claims have gotten better, but for the child's channel has become unlistenable.

For me, channel 24 now plays RADIO EDIT songs!!! WTF?! Hearing NIN "Closer" the same way as on FM on 24 was laughable. But even worse was just hearing House of Pain "Jump Around" on 24... edited no less.

We are paid through Feb, not sure if they do pro-rated for pre-paid months.


I am pissed!!
By pauldovi on 11/13/2008 7:37:01 PM , Rating: 2
I listen(ed) to XM48 Squizz for my long car drives each day. Now there is no more Squizz! They replaced it with some new crappy music and really crappy DJ's.

I am extremely upset!




RE: I am pissed!!
By Dulanic on 11/13/2008 8:53:26 PM , Rating: 2
New Music huh? They converted Octane to basically what squizz was. Infact they even have 2 squizz DJs! I think the new Octane is the best of all the changes they made.


RE: I am pissed!!
By chmilz on 11/13/2008 11:02:15 PM , Rating: 2
On Sirius I lost Buzzsaw... It's now ACDC/Boneyard. I want my hard-hitting classic rock tracks!

I hated the old Octane, it was just generic mall-metal that sounded the same, I'll check out the remake with hopes it's better.


RE: I am pissed!!
By tjr508 on 11/14/2008 9:38:07 AM , Rating: 2
We lost buzzsaw? Now I'm mad!


RE: I am pissed!!
By EglsFly on 11/14/2008 10:03:12 PM , Rating: 2
Buzzsaw was my favorite... :-/


RE: I am pissed!!
By EglsFly on 11/14/2008 10:12:46 PM , Rating: 3
I just checked the channel lineup and Buzzsaw is coming back:

19 - "Buzzsaw" is now "AC/DC Radio", but will return on 1/15/08, channel title changed to "Boneyard"

http://www.sirius.com/newlineup


RE: I am pissed!!
By pauldovi on 11/14/2008 9:29:45 AM , Rating: 2
Except the 2 Sirius DJ are the worst pile of crap I have ever listened too. Today driving to work I hear a story about Blackstone Cherry's Father.... It wasn't funny!!!! The guy thought it was hilarious.


RE: I am pissed!!
By Alexvrb on 11/15/2008 11:45:35 PM , Rating: 2
You must be coming from a Sirius point of view, I don't know, maybe Octane blew. But Squizz on XM was better off before the change. Now they've replaced Squizz with Octane, and I don't care if they modified Octane. Octane is still not Squizz, and Octane plays more suck-music.


RE: I am pissed!!
By mmntech on 11/14/2008 10:23:42 AM , Rating: 2
I lost XM72 Beyond Jazz. One of the reasons I got XM was for the better selection of Jazz channels. They replaced it was some spa music crap. I know jazz fusion isn't a popular genre, but spa sounds? Get the frick out of here. They're getting an angry email.

I'm just glad Opie & Anthony stayed put. There was a lot of fear among the fans that they'd be dumped for Hoohoo. Ever since 103.3 Edge took them off the air in Buffalo (due to a dispute with Citadel), they're not available over the air in Toronto any more. XM was great when I first got it but I'm rapidly running out of reasons to keep it.


RE: I am pissed!!
By strikeback03 on 11/14/2008 3:34:23 PM , Rating: 2
So far I have been happier with Octane than Squizz. Less AC/DC and losing their stupid commercials between songs won't bother me any.

I know Bodhi is still on in afternoons (meh), have not heard any other DJs yet so I don't know how good or bad they might be.


my question
By sprockkets on 11/14/2008 5:10:39 AM , Rating: 2
I doubt they are going to consolidate channels to boost the sound quality back up to par with say, FM?

I listened to XM in my Dad's Ridgeline, and the quality is so pathetic. I said his oldies sounded better when first broadcasted then they do now! All the cymbals and higher frequencies sound like 48kbps aac (which is probably what it is).




RE: my question
By Dulanic on 11/14/2008 6:08:45 AM , Rating: 2
???? Sirius XM blows away FM quality. However, I'm guessing your dad has it hooked up to his stereo through a FM transmiter in the sat radio unit. Those suck, always will. Direct connection will make a night and day difference.


RE: my question
By sprockkets on 11/14/2008 12:58:37 PM , Rating: 3
It's a top of the line model with built in XM and of course the built in antenna on the top of the vehicle. And both his and his Accord (same built in setup) sound like crap.

It used to sound great until they added all the channels and then they had to reduce the bitrate to make room for all of them.

Now, I'm willing to concede that both are Honda's and both are crap due to whatever they use, but his own portable unit also sounded the same way.

This isn't tape hiss; this is artifacts from aac coming in due to low bitrates. I know this because I tested aac at 48-64kbps and it sounds exactly the same, and XM uses aac.


RE: my question
By Chudilo on 11/14/2008 1:32:38 PM , Rating: 2
Incorrect. Do some research on the subject. While they do have some channels at a higher rates, most channels are at 48K with PAC v4 encoding. (Talk radio is even less)
Which sounds like poop to any discerning ear. I don't know what you normally listen to, but FM sounds much better due to lack of compression. I am sure you would be able to distinguish the quality difference on any music station where high frequencies are are discernible. Listen for something like a cymbal or similar.

While it may not matter for talk shows, it matters a lot for music. At the very least they had the decency to allocate some extra bandwidth to Jazz so it sounds a little better then all the other channels. Most electronic music like channel 30 or 36 sound terrible.
I called them several times to confront them about it, and they said they had no control over it. And that it could've been the DJs playing tracks with poor sounds quality. Yeah right, stop letting those DJs on the air then.

Just to establish a point of reference I have listened to sirius starting with original sportster, tried FM modulation and tape, got rid of it due to bad quality). Then through a build in Radio in Infinity with a Bose system (came prepackaged with a trial), also did not renew due to quality. And now the same situation in a Volvo with a premium stereo.

Just FYI Officially FM quality is considered to be on par with quality of a 64k bit stream.


RE: my question
By sprockkets on 11/14/2008 1:42:09 PM , Rating: 2
The problem is FM quality is considered lower due to the cutoff freq and how it does stereo; while aac is definitely clearer, the reduced bit rate now in use sacrifices as you said, the high frequencies. What I guess I'm saying is I'd rather have soft fuzzy FM instead of harsh XM.

Even the announcers sound bad. Whenever they make a "s" noise it clearly sounds fake.

I think you are right too. When listening to the jazz section, it did not sound too bad.

And again, XM sounded great when my mother first got her Accord in 2004.


RE: my question
By sprockkets on 11/14/2008 5:04:23 PM , Rating: 2
Oh, and btw, most of PAC's encoding technology went into aac anyhow.


RE: my question
By Jimbo1234 on 11/14/2008 2:29:15 PM , Rating: 2
In the Audi Q7 I drove in Florida for a week, Sirius sounded horrible compared to FM. It sounded like a poorly encoded MP3 played over the phone. Okay, not that bad but it was just awful.

After that experience I will definitely take HD FM or even plain FM over Sirius/XM. Now I haven't heard the HD sirrius, but I'm still not paying to listen to radio for God's sake.


RE: my question
By Chaser on 11/14/2008 2:59:13 PM , Rating: 2
Both services compress the hell out of many of the stations. The more popular stations sound remarkably better.


RE: my question
By mmcdonalataocdotgov on 11/14/2008 9:03:30 AM , Rating: 2
That may be an antenna issue, and not the signal. When the antenna is performing poorly, as with very bad weather conditions or through the trees, etc, the signal will go into a degraded mode before it is lost. Otherwise the quality is very much better than broadcast signals at their best.


Drum n Bass
By TomCorelis (blog) on 11/14/2008 12:11:39 AM , Rating: 3
These cats need a dedicated Drum-n-Bass channel. And another channel for after-hours trip-hop.

Electronic music isn't a subgenre, like alt rock or death metal. It's a regular genre, like rock and hip-hop, and has just as many, if not more, subgenres than rock and rap!

So where's our equal representation?!




RE: Drum n Bass
By pepitojones on 11/14/2008 8:07:37 AM , Rating: 2
Seriously, I'd love to see a dedicated dnb channel. As it is now, I'm surprised every time I do hear a dnb track. At least there's Radio 1's drum and bass show if you happen to be listening late on a Saturday night (1am - 3am).


RE: Drum n Bass
By Spivonious on 11/14/2008 9:28:51 AM , Rating: 2
I think the same thing about metal, and it's usually all lumped into one as well. I mean, look at all of these subgenres: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heavy_metal_g...


RE: Drum n Bass
By SoundGarD on 11/14/2008 11:09:30 AM , Rating: 2
I can't agree more. Forever I've wanted a lineup on satellite radio called "Digitally Imported" (www.di.fm if you live under a rock). XM's The System is online-only where it belongs and Sirius' Area is slightly better but come on. Give me some electro house and mid-west hardcore/breaks!


RE: Drum n Bass
By Carl B on 11/14/2008 1:18:32 PM , Rating: 2
What? I love The System - they made a huge mistake moving it online only IMO. The Afterglow Sessions and Victor Dinaire's sets - they are right on.

The Move (former XM80) used to have an awesome Drum and Bass show between 1pm and 3pm, then it got moved to late night, then it got canceled altogether. And then of course, the station itself disappeared sometime thereafter. The original Move was one of my favorite stations - 'The Pressure' show for D&B, Buzz instead of Avalon, Saw Radio, often had break sets on the Thump Radio show... it was great.

So yeah, I've been missing The Move, will be missing The System as well, think Area is alright, and am upset that XM Chill has lost its pure electronica vibe.


RE: Drum n Bass
By SoundGarD on 11/14/2008 1:59:58 PM , Rating: 2
I'll have to admit i enjoyed the System from time to time -- specifically mentioning Victor Dinaire which I enjoyed very much. But the more i think about it, it's all personal taste and the joy of satellite radio was having those stations that weren't wildly popular/profitable. I, personally, don't care for trance and that seems to be what the system played 99% of the time i had it tuned.

Chill was my favorite station for driving. I miss it lots. On Area, though, I caught paul van dyk's vonyc sessions and seems to be pretty fantastic, less trance and more underground.

So really, my comment on the system was out of apathy i suppose and i humbly retract it. But why is anything "online only" .. bandwidth?


RE: Drum n Bass
By strikeback03 on 11/14/2008 3:30:48 PM , Rating: 2
I am extremely disappointed in the loss of the System, as I probably listened to that channel about 50% of the time. But then again I like trance a lot and don't like most other forms of dance/electronic music. Area has been OK in what I've listened so far, but needs to pick up some of the shows System used to carry (A State of Trance, Lost Episode, Solaris Int'l, etc). Also, they need to play less Deadmau5 and learn to spell "Corsten."
The one positive I have seen so far is that Octane seems to play fewer of the retarded commercials that Squizz used all the time. More music, fewer blow jobs please.


Opie & Anthony upset.........
By theapparition on 11/14/2008 7:38:34 AM , Rating: 2
When the merger was first announced, O&A made no bones about it that they were not happy. Why? Simple, because they would now have to go toe-to-toe with thier arch DJ rival, Howard Stern.

O&A has always taken a back seat in ratings, and this will be no different. Give them a year before being canceled. No surprise they never supported the merger.




RE: Opie & Anthony upset.........
By Spivonious on 11/14/2008 9:30:54 AM , Rating: 2
Both shows are retarded and are just potty humor. If one of them goes away, it might clear up airtime for something that's actually entertaining.


By theapparition on 11/14/2008 10:00:22 AM , Rating: 2
Reguardless of either of our thoughts on the content of said shows, there is no denying that they are signifigant generators of revenue, especially Howard Stern. Virtually a 70% increase in subscribers overnight as soon as he signed on.

Just like his radio show, you may not like him, but you can't deny he has a huge marketshare.


The links to the line up
By Shawn on 11/13/2008 9:08:53 PM , Rating: 2
don't work.




RE: The links to the line up
By TomCorelis (blog) on 11/13/2008 10:04:13 PM , Rating: 2
Fixed. Thanks!


Less talk, more rawk!
By MikeBurtner on 11/14/2008 9:43:09 AM , Rating: 2
I kinda thought I was above all the hatin' for this merger. I'm not terribly picky about exactly which songs are played, as long as they roughly stick to the genre of the channel. I also try to be tolerant about playlists and such, as long as they don't get stuck on just a few artists. But after a day or so of listening to the new SirisuXM (sic), I have to agree with so many other commenters here: CUT THE CHATTER!

The reason I never turn on the FM radio is because of all the insipid so-called DJs who can't shut up. I moved to satellite radio for that reason, and XM has always been reasonably talk-free. Why do I care whose birthday it is in Phoenix or what comment someone emailed in last week? Please, satellite radio overlords, less yakking, more rocking!




RE: Less talk, more rawk!
By foolsgambit11 on 11/14/2008 8:00:55 PM , Rating: 2
I hate it, too. But I think I understand why they do it. They don't think anybody actually likes to listen to the DJs running their mouths. They do it specifically to do less rocking. Remember, talk is cheap. Rocking has royalties.


I have already called and complained..
By ChaosGryphon on 11/14/2008 12:43:17 PM , Rating: 2
I have also sent it e-mails to XM for their screwed up changes.

I happened to like Audio Visions and The System (now Online Only) as well as other channels.

I think Both Sirius and XM customers only have one option if Sirius doesnt change is to dump them.

I mean if you are going to merge the two then merge them but since they are maintaining seperate sat systems level the original channels alone and bring over the others channels and put them on a different station. I mean is there a limit to how many stations there are?




By strikeback03 on 11/14/2008 3:40:59 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, there is a limit. I don't know Sirius situation, but XM satellites were maxed out on bandwidth. This is why some stations have to go off-air for the holiday stations and the single-artist stations and such.

They are giving some excuse about customers not buying new equipment as the reason for saying they might go 10-15 years with parallel offerings, but I would bet that a lot of customers would be willing to upgrade if they could use all 5 satellites to provide more channels and higher sound quality. In 10-15 years I really hope technology has a better solution than this.

In the meantime I will keep e-mailing them and asking them to put the system back on broadcast.


Logo
By FaceMaster on 11/13/2008 7:02:40 PM , Rating: 2
Time they picked these companies up by their balls

They're the dog's bollocks

...any other jokes to do with the logo?




By atwood7fan on 11/13/2008 7:48:04 PM , Rating: 2
I live out in the middle of nowhere and only get 1 FM station, which is why I got Sirius earlier this year. Personally I like the merger of stations because I ended up getting some of the XM stations I wanted (cinemagic, 90s, etc) and really didn't lose out on anything. My only problem is a couple of my channels changed numbers. Oh well.




Pricing
By bribud on 11/14/2008 8:55:11 AM , Rating: 2
So what is the pricing now and what do you get with each package? Is there a good link to go to that shows this type of info?




5 year subscriber, cancellling
By Heinrich on 11/14/2008 9:33:37 AM , Rating: 2
I have 3 XM subscriptions - car, pc, and living room. I have rented many cars with Sirius and was uner the impression that Sirius was more "top 40."

Well, it is. XM no longer has diversity off FM. They still have no commercials bu it's still top 40 repeats. The punk stations are gone. Fungus 53 on XM was an incredible channel.

I no longer recommend XM to anyone. It's not worth the monthly fee. No variety and plenty of repetition.




Combined tuners
By Brazos on 11/14/2008 1:50:19 PM , Rating: 2
Per Wixipedia - XM Satellite Radio
quote:
As a term of the merger, the combined company will be fined almost $20 million for failing to create and market interchangeable radios capable of receiving signals from both companies prior to the merger.[

So will they or will they not offer tuners that have all channels?




Sirius Quality
By TheChemainiac on 11/17/2008 4:57:01 AM , Rating: 2
For those complaining about poor quality/restricted audio frequency... I have a tip... you are likely using the FM Radio...

By the time you receive a retransmitted signal on your FM receiver, you have gone through the FM modulation/demodulation process ...along with what is probably a poor signal. Your Friendly Candy Corporation (FCC) mandated extremely low transmitter power outputs... likely in the microwatts, because the earlier transmitters were interfering with other users on the same frequency. At one time the earlier transmitters has a fair bit of power...sometimes you could hear the transmitters for a block. FCC said no way and made em cut the power way back! Result is a poor noisy signal into your FM receiver

Result is the FM transmitter mode is almost useless.

Good solution if you have an old cassette tape player the solution is a plug in adaptor... available at Best Buy or Radio Shack.... I use that system and the difference is amazing...

If you have a newer stereo it might have a 3.5mm stereo plug adapter... they use em for I-PODS direct from the earpiece to the car stereo system. That is best.




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