XM Radio Commercials on Music Channels?

[Navmaster]

Let me preface this by saying that I listen to Sirius in my vehicle and my wife has XM in her car. Therefore if this is an old issue I was unaware of, I apologize for the re-hash.

We took a short trip together yesterday with the family in her car. Of course I was looking forward to listen to the XM product just to try and see if I still would prefer Sirius over XM for my own use.

I think I did confirm my choice but it was because of a new development I was unaware of until yesterday.

XM broadcasting commercials on music channels.

This was not just some plug for one of their other channels and it was not commercials on talk stations. This was open and outright commercial insertion into prime music channels. Country, Rock, and Jazz....

I was quite upset by this development. Why would I continue to pay for my wife's XM account so that she can listen to the same commercials available on local FM stations?

Does anyone have a link to a statement from XM as to why this is happening? Or some sort of argument for why?

 

[Darrell S]

XM lost a lawsuit to Clear Channel, an original investor in XM. This gave CC the right to run ads on the channels it controls. These are Nashville,Kiss,Mix,Sunny,and WSIX.

 

[kevlard1]

XM started to broadcast commercials on a couple of it's channels because they were legally forced to by Clear Channel. On all the channels that have the commercials XM made new channels of the same type of music without commercials.

 

[DishDave]

Clear Ch. Is Evil.... Just ask Bubba

 

[Navmaster]

OK, Thanks for the info... Guess I will stick with Sirius

Thanks for the quick replies...

I did not know about this development obviously....

It really will not affect me because I prefer Sirius in any case.... But I thought it was an absolute bone head move to include advertising on any of the music channels.

I suppose XM agrees if they duplicated channels just to try and placate the paying subscribers.

Goes to show - Never jump in bed with the devil, just for his money.

Clear Channel = The Devil

 

[Sirius_Rich]

Clear Ch. Is Evil.... Just ask Bubba

Speaking of Bubba.....

The llink is a video of his "Meet and Greet" in Vegas Saturday. Over 500 people flew, drove or hitch hiked to see Bubba and crew. People had a week's notice to get on the reservation list to enter the room to meet the crew. Impressive turnout:

This Video Must Be Viewed in IE

 

[damaged]

Speaking of Bubba.....

The llink is a video of his "Meet and Greet" in Vegas Saturday. Over 500 people flew, drove or hitch hiked to see Bubba and crew. People had a week's notice to get on the reservation list to enter the room to meet the crew. Impressive turnout:

This Video Must Be Viewed in IE

I wouldn't say must. For those who don't want to use IE.

http://uploadfile.putfile.com/videos/c8-18904154267.wmv

It is the same exact source used by the original link posted by Sirius_Rich.

 

[daver40]

Thanks for the quick replies...

I did not know about this development obviously....

It really will not affect me because I prefer Sirius in any case.... But I thought it was an absolute bone head move to include advertising on any of the music channels.

I suppose XM agrees if they duplicated channels just to try and placate the paying subscribers.

Goes to show - Never jump in bed with the devil, just for his money.

Clear Channel = The Devil

So true.

 

[jegrant]

FWIW, at least one of the duplicated channels is something that I had wanted from XM - a Top 40 Hits station with DJs.

XM 30 - XM Hitlist is such an animal. They play Top 40 songs plus some "recurrents" that I still like to hear, and they have DJs who interview artists and celebrities, take calls from listeners, etc.

While I'm not sure I like some of the recent changes (dropping Christian Rock) - I guess I don't mind the increased variety of Pop music. Hopefully we won't have to put up with the Clear Channel programming much longer. I would think XM will drop it entirely when the agreement runs out. And at that point, maybe they can add a few more niche services.

 

[HCI]

Hopefully we won't have to put up with the Clear Channel programming much longer. I would think XM will drop it entirely when the agreement runs out. .

I don't think it is an agreement. I believe Clear Channel is a stock holder.

 

[damaged]

I don't think it is an agreement. I believe Clear Channel is a stock holder.

And if the link below (old) is any indication, you'd be right, in fact, it sounds as if they may be more than stock holders.


http://www.xmradio.com/newsroom/screen/press_release_1999_06_08.html

 

[Robert l]

I was wondering what happen to Sunny channel 820 on Directv. I had that playing for my mother all day at the house. I see they replaced it with Escape, but its not the same, close maybe but she hates it. In other words, its not really the same.

Oh well, at least I know why now after reading this, but I did send Directv a rather ugly letter about it. Course they deserve it anyway, since everything they've done lately bothers me.

 

[jegrant]

While I don't listen to Sunny or Escape, from what I have read, the man who was programming Sunny moved to Escape and claims to be running the same format. The "old" Sunny no longer exists; its format has been changed since Clear Channel took it over.

The agreement I mention between XM and Clear Channel is referenced in the XM Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xm
It indicates that in 2008, Clear Channel has agreed to sell its stock in XM, and unless they "settle up" with a cash payment at that time, the XM - CC agreement (which gives Clear Channel the right to program 10 percent of XM's bandwidth) will end.

XM's Eric Logan also explains the situation in a letter to subscribers here:
http://www.xmradio.com/lineup/letter.jsp