Multi-casting Decades and other like channels

DAB

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Oct 9, 2008
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Anyone know when Sirius may start multi casting the decades and other like channels across both networks? I think there are going to be some pissed off XM'ers when this happens. I have already notice that XM's decades have pared back there side B cuts in favor of hits.

I've been hearing it will happen sometimes this month, but that was just rumored, nothing official from Sirius.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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Oct 11, 2008
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I've heard the same rumours. Not just the decades but all like channels. The rumours I hear is that if the formats are the same, Sirius wins. I think this is a colosal mistake as they run the risk of alilanating a good chunk of XM listeners. They should either combine the 2 channels into a 3rd channel halfway between or choose 1/2 XM and 1/2 Sirius.

ETA: I have only heard it from people "claiming" to have inside knowledge. I tend to distrust these types of "claims".
 

Aaron

Moderator
Oct 10, 2008
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I love the Decades channels on Sirius... hope they don't change too much.

p.s. I'll be furious if they ever dump Movin' Easy and The Bridge.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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I love the Decades channels on Sirius... hope they don't change too much.

p.s. I'll be furious if they ever dump Movin' Easy and The Bridge.

The Bridge is unique to both services. It should make the cut. They do need someplace to put the all Celine Dion channel they will announce shortly.
 

Tgajr

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Oct 11, 2008
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Really?

I find it hard to believe that they will start combining the channels this soon. Are you saying for example, they will only have one 70s channel this month? What happens if its an XM channel and my radio doesnt get XM channels?
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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I find it hard to believe that they will start combining the channels this soon. Are you saying for example, they will only have one 70s channel this month? What happens if its an XM channel and my radio doesnt get XM channels?

Mainly what I've heard has been rumors, so there is nothing officially indicating this. But I think they will certainly move towards this sooner rather than later. But on the flip side as someone said, this will tend to alienate many of the hardcore XM'ers out there and that is not wise.

But the multi-casting plan as I've understood it, means if there is a '70s channel on each service, the Sirius '70s channel will replace the one on XM. This will happen on any like channels.

For the record I do not agree with this model of change.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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Jack07 said:
The "blended" music channels will launch Wednesday, November 5. They will be on both platforms. Expect little in the way of announcements or PR on this, because they don't want to seem like they deceived people (especially the FCC) when they announced merger plans. The new channels will be more "Sirius like" than anything and originiate from NY, not DC. New logos are already being developed for the channels.

This is from XMFAN. I have no idea if this guy is credible but he has been insistant to say the least. We shall see.
 

GrĂĽpsaar

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Oct 11, 2008
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Interesting, if they do this as early as November.

The way this sounds though, we'd be getting all new channels, rather then keeping one or the other, which is odd. Or at lesat renaming them and doing some behind the scenes firing and restructering, but keeping the same format as one or the other, which is still odd. Might as well keep one brand or the other, I think.

When this does eventually happen, I will be interested to see hwo many upset fans there will be of either service. I am a little wary of seeing Alt Nation, Octane, LoC and Lithium changing at all, let alone getting new names/personalities and playlists. Of course, if the playlists get an upgrade, that'd be fine, but if they steer into a new direction entirely, it will be scary. Here's to hoping we don't get TOO much of a change! ;)
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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Interesting, if they do this as early as November.

The way this sounds though, we'd be getting all new channels, rather then keeping one or the other, which is odd. Or at lesat renaming them and doing some behind the scenes firing and restructering, but keeping the same format as one or the other, which is still odd. Might as well keep one brand or the other, I think.

When this does eventually happen, I will be interested to see hwo many upset fans there will be of either service. I am a little wary of seeing Alt Nation, Octane, LoC and Lithium changing at all, let alone getting new names/personalities and playlists. Of course, if the playlists get an upgrade, that'd be fine, but if they steer into a new direction entirely, it will be scary. Here's to hoping we don't get TOO much of a change! ;)

There are some channels which I could go either way and be happy with. Some not so much. I know a lot of Sirius people really like Lithium but I hope the 90s alt station is more like Lucy. Its style is unique. And I like the music better personally. Lithium is too grungy for me. That would be a hard one to swallow for me if Lucy was replaced with Lithium or a Lithium like channel. I suspect we all would have some channels which we consider significantly different even though the big brass consideres them the same. This is why I think this approach is stupid. I hope it doesn't really bite them in the ass with more cancellations than costs saved.
 

Wolf

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I would think it be cool if they start playing the same decades channels on both services, finally Sirius can get a true 90's channel! But I enjoy listening to Octane most of the time and I can't remember the name of the channel over at XM that plays close to the same format but sometimes better music. But to me I hope Hard Attack takes over Liquid Metal.
 

gilpdawg

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Oct 12, 2008
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I would think it be cool if they start playing the same decades channels on both services, finally Sirius can get a true 90's channel! But I enjoy listening to Octane most of the time and I can't remember the name of the channel over at XM that plays close to the same format but sometimes better music. But to me I hope Hard Attack takes over Liquid Metal.
As far as rock goes, I feel the classic rockers are pretty much interchangeable. (not counting Deep Tracks, that's a gem of XM and needs to stay untouched) Squizz is better than Octane. Boneyard is better than Hair Nation/Buzzsaw combo. I don't have an opinion on Ethel vs. Alt Nation or Fred vs. First Wave, because I don't care for the styles of music on those. I prefer Lithium to Lucy, actually, because it's grungier. I also prefer Hard Attack to XMLM, (by FAR) Hard Attack is the best channel on Sirius IMO, as far as covering it's genre (like it or not) perfectly.
 

SuperH

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Oct 11, 2008
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There are some channels which I could go either way and be happy with. Some not so much. I know a lot of Sirius people really like Lithium but I hope the 90s alt station is more like Lucy. Its style is unique. And I like the music better personally. Lithium is too grungy for me. That would be a hard one to swallow for me if Lucy was replaced with Lithium or a Lithium like channel. I suspect we all would have some channels which we consider significantly different even though the big brass consideres them the same. This is why I think this approach is stupid. I hope it doesn't really bite them in the ass with more cancellations than costs saved.

I don't plan to cancel unless they dump absolutely everything I listen to. All I need are a 70s channel, a Movin' EZ/Blend like channel, a "90s and today"/CHR channel, a hip-hop channel, a classic rock channel (covering the 70s through the 80s), and a metal channel.

If I have one of those, I'll be happy enough and will adapt in time. It is an interesting thought to think they'd merge content this soon, but it does make sense, and having a mirrored music lineup will help stop customer confusion. Then, customers can just buy a "radio" and forget about XM/Sirius or whatever branding.

Especially before Christmas and "Black Friday" (which will probably be dead Friday if our economy doesn't up a bit!)

I like the grunginess of Lithium over Lucy, but I feel both are great channels. I saw a post on XMFan calling Lucy "Pucy". I think it's a bit "soft". But then again, people have different tastes in music.

I think this is going to be a hard "battle" to fight for sure! I hope there aren't ANY cancellations, but you know it will happen. There will be at least one. And I hope the door doesn't hit them too hard on the way out.
 
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satradfan

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Oct 11, 2008
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It's going to be an interesting shift in programming. Even though they are broadcasting to two different services I would think Sirius XM wants to position both services as closely as possible with respect to content and I would and mirroring channel numbers.
 
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jwt873

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Oct 12, 2008
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I think if they do plan to merge channels, the best approach would have been to slowly change the existing channels until they were similar. For instance they could gradually cut down on the deep tracks a bit on XM and gradually increase the deep tracks on Sirius. Eventually both services would have similar playlists. Once that happened, nobody would notice much different when they began the simulcasting ;)

For what it's worth, just last month Sirius-XM chose John Zellner (XM's head programmer) to be the Senior VP of music programming for the merged company. He chose people from both services to head up the different genres, so now the same people are overseeing XM and Sirius programming.

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/sirius-xm-music-programming-execs-announced.html

Here's the rundown:

* Kid Kelly (Sirius) is named VP of Pop/Dance/Urban
* Gregg Steele (Sirius) becomes the VP of Rock.
* Trinity (XM) is appointed VP of Classical/Jazz/Latin
* Jon Anthony (XM) is named VP of Country
* Mitch Todd (Sirius) is appointed Senior Director of Music Production.
 

YewLittleBitches

New Member
Oct 11, 2008
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It's an obvious move to merge the music channels and broadcast the same channel on both services. I'm amazed it hasn't happened yet. As long as they keep 14, 15, 19, and 23 on Sirius, I'll be fine.
 

limegrass69

Confused
Oct 12, 2008
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The pressure is on to cut costs...

On one hand, I am surprised they are moving this quickly. Any time you make a change, you will piss some people off. Sirius/XM really can't afford to bleed too many subscribers.

On the other hand, it make a lot of sense to go for some "low hanging fruit" to show everyone (i.e. Wall Street analysts) that Mel means business with respect to cost cutting.

I personally prefer the more mainstream approach of the Sirius channels. But I do like the old countdown shows (Casem/Dees) on XM.
 

satradfan

New Member
Oct 11, 2008
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The pressure is on to cut costs...

On one hand, I am surprised they are moving this quickly. Any time you make a change, you will piss some people off. Sirius/XM really can't afford to bleed too many subscribers.

On the other hand, it make a lot of sense to go for some "low hanging fruit" to show everyone (i.e. Wall Street analysts) that Mel means business with respect to cost cutting.

I personally prefer the more mainstream approach of the Sirius channels. But I do like the old countdown shows (Casem/Dees) on XM.

I completely agree! Any time you make changes you will piss some people off...but there are benefits to merging the content as well!

It will be great to see it all finally pan out!
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
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I completely agree! Any time you make changes you will piss some people off...but there are benefits to merging the content as well!

It will be great to see it all finally pan out!

I think the worst part right now is not knowing. Once its done and we all adjust ... it won't be so bad. People are always afraid of the unknown (myself included).
 

AZJoe

Member
Oct 11, 2008
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Sirius Programming bosses are at XM in DC this week to determine what channels stay or go, or blended, will be interesting to see what goes down.:)