Those of you who are XM radio subscribers may or may not be aware that, as part of the merger with/takeover by Sirius, the music offerings of Sirius and XM are to be merged…and that merger is quietly happening tonight.
Orbitcast has posted a leaked copy of XM’s new lineup, effective tonight.
It seems that more Sirius channels are surviving, rather than XM, although it remains to be seen whether Sirius-style programming (shallower playlists, more common appearance of hits) or XM-style programming (deeper playlists, less recurrence) survives on which channels.
I have to admit that I am a little bummed. I listened to the original POTUS ’08 channel for the last time today, and got to witness the sign-offs of the major personalities of the channel, who have apparently been laid off due to the merger. A new POTUS channel is supposed to start up tomorrow, however. I’m pleased to see that style of channel survive the election, but it won’t be the same.
I’ll reserve judgment on some of the channels which are supposed to be almost 1:1 swaps (e.g. Ethel, Fred, and Lucy being replaced with 1st Wave, Alt Nation, and Lithium). However, I am sad to see more artist-centric channels appear on XMs lineup. I mean, do we need a 24/7 Elvis channel?
It looks like the Hip-Hop/R&B and Dance sections of the dial will see some attrition, while a few new comedy channels are being introduced – changes I’m also uncertain about.
However, there are some changes that do seem promising. The line-up drops WorldSpace’s U-POP in favor of BBC Radio 1, which I enjoy streaming online every now and then. I know that some folks will be disappointed with replacing the BBC World Service with BBC World News…but for car-based listening, I don’t actually mind that change. And, unless my eyes deceive me, it looks like we’ll get the NPR channel that, for a while, had me wondering if I should’ve subscribed to Sirius.
Oh, and I do like the opportunity to listen to selected Premiership (English Football) games via “Best of Sirius”….but I already get the games I want via TiVo-to-iPhone transfer, and I wouldn’t want to seem like a Howard Stern fan by signing up.
My subscription runs through March…so I’ll give the merged service a shot. However, since I joined the iPod/iPhone cult a few months ago…well, I do occasionally opt for listening to my iPod in the car (or stream online audio) in lieu of radio.
We’ll see.
