Lack of Vision and Product Focus by Sirius/XM

[wnh]

I also have high concerns about the state of merged channels. Satellite Radio was supposed to be about MUSIC and a breadth of quality choices that commercial radio no longer offers. In their current state, both Sirius and XM have some quality channels that neither other offer.

From what is being released it appears that many of the widely popular channels on XM such as Vox Classical / Sacred Choral Voice and Watercolors Smooth Jazz will be cut.

Sirius has already cut The Bridge 12 which was one of Sirius's most popular channels in favor of another narrowcasted 24 hour Led Zepplin channel.

From what I read, it appears that the worst possible is going to occur: The best XM channels will get cut along with the best Sirius leaving us with tons of hip hop, yip yap and garage metal music.

It appears that Satellite Radio is quickly becoming another programming wasteland.

 

[BigLace]

Don't worry it will shape up. In order for Satelitte radio to survive they must keep that diversity in music. I still believe some great channels will emerge from this merger. Just be patient.

 

[macfanatic010]

in order for any product to be successful, it must appeal to the masses. i think Sirius XM is trying to move away from being a niche product towards this, but while this is happening they are experiencing growing pains. i say give it some time and see how it turns out.

people on xmfan makes the upcoming channel adjustments sound like the end of the world, but you have to step back and think about the big picture. management has to make these changes because their current model wasn't working and they weren't turning a profit. on top of this, CEO Mel Karmazin and others have a reputation they need to protect -- if they drove Sirius to the ground, what company in their right mind would hire them next time around? it would be career suicide.

 

[awfulwaffle]

I don't understand why you are getting upset by this. They are still going to offer the same type of music channels. I am sure most of you won't notice much of a change anyways. And here is the main point you need to realise:

People that visit these boards tend to be avid satellite radio listeners. They listen intently, and have a passion for it. Others, they subscribe because they don't want to have to worry about dealing with a bunch of commercials, and don't want to have to get music themselves. They just want the music provided to them just like FM radio did. That is their main selling point, is the commercial free music. Add in the sports, talk, traffic info, you have a great product to market. They could care less about providing to the niche community. They care about making a profit. I will tell you this much though:

I live in a town that has 1 pulse style channel, 1 octane style channel(spotty reception in areas since it's based in a city 150 miles away), 1 beat style channel, a few more 70's and 80's style hits, and a few country channels. Now with satellite radio, I have 1 hard rock, 1 metal, 1 alternative, 1 90's alternative, 1 rock/punk/hip hop/alternative station. There is much more variety than FM already, whether you want to believe it or not. there are stations more centralised on certain parts of the genre. Hard Attack sometimes has songs that are pure metal, to the point where you can't understand what the hell they are singing. I can't really handle that stuff sometimes so I can kick it back to Octane and I can rock out to something else. With FM in my area, I can't really do that. There are plenty of music channels to find what you want to listen to. I have a full Preset row dedicated to music, and it doesn't fit all the different music channels I like to flip through to listen to.

 

[Jleimer]

I don't understand why you are getting upset by this. They are still going to offer the same type of music channels. I am sure most of you won't notice much of a change anyways. And here is the main point you need to realise:

People that visit these boards tend to be avid satellite radio listeners. They listen intently, and have a passion for it. Others, they subscribe because they don't want to have to worry about dealing with a bunch of commercials, and don't want to have to get music themselves. They just want the music provided to them just like FM radio did. That is their main selling point, is the commercial free music. Add in the sports, talk, traffic info, you have a great product to market. They could care less about providing to the niche community. They care about making a profit. I will tell you this much though:

I live in a town that has 1 pulse style channel, 1 octane style channel(spotty reception in areas since it's based in a city 150 miles away), 1 beat style channel, a few more 70's and 80's style hits, and a few country channels. Now with satellite radio, I have 1 hard rock, 1 metal, 1 alternative, 1 90's alternative, 1 rock/punk/hip hop/alternative station. There is much more variety than FM already, whether you want to believe it or not. there are stations more centralised on certain parts of the genre. Hard Attack sometimes has songs that are pure metal, to the point where you can't understand what the hell they are singing. I can't really handle that stuff sometimes so I can kick it back to Octane and I can rock out to something else. With FM in my area, I can't really do that. There are plenty of music channels to find what you want to listen to. I have a full Preset row dedicated to music, and it doesn't fit all the different music channels I like to flip through to listen to.

I am not upset by this , but I am baffled as to why the hell Sirius XM did not let there customers know about the biggest channel change in company history because in order to manage a business effectively they should let the customers know what the hell to expect. Look at Dish Network they are letting people know about the move of ION TV to 280 in advance , and that is good management.

I do agree with you that the company is looking for a profit , and I realize it is a business that does not appeal to the niche audience. This is why I mix things up a little bit I listen to Sirius for the shit I know and some shit I don't . While Slacker for me is the area where I can discover shit I don't know like last night I listened to one of my custom channels and I heard a Damn Yankees Song and a Poison Song that I didnt recognize before which was amazing.

I am that person that will never go back to FM radio , and for me Sirius has more variety then testicular radio plus the fact that I can listen to alot of sports that are not avaliable in my town which Ill take anyday over FM radio.

 

[Schlep]

people on xmfan makes the upcoming channel adjustments sound like the end of the world, but you have to step back and think about the big picture. management has to make these changes because their current model wasn't working and they weren't turning a profit.

I can only speak for myself, but this is the end of an era. I've listened to XM for over 7 years, and enjoyed the deeper playlists and attention to detail on the branding and focus of each channel. The reason the services tanked and weren't profitable has nothing to do with the music. Sirius got greedy trying to catch up to XM and forked over hundreds of millions to Stern and the NFL. XM in their infinite stupidity tried to match them instead of staying the course. Had XM just stuck to good music and talk, they'd have been profitable 2-3 years ago. Instead they got into a content war, spending money they didn't have on content that most people didn't want.

It's an unfortunate turn of events, but to imply that the way the music is programmed on XM negatively impacted the service in any way is naive. Almost every single person I know with the service signed on to hear songs they never hear on the radio, even my parents who haved loved 50's on 5 and 60's on 6. I've always felt that fans of Sirius music channels would be better served by an iPod.

 

[TacoKid]

I know where the XM "purist" are coming from but seriously, satrad is still a million times better than FM radio.

For all those that are XM purist, there are those of us who also love and enjoy the "crappy" Sirius model.

I love the sports, talk, entertainment, etc along with the music.

There aren't many, if any, Jazz, New Age, Standards, Decades, Eclectic, and the types of Rock stations you can find on satrad on terrestrial radio.

 

[TX WJ]

I have always wondered why they don't do a show once a week to explain what the hell is going on. They could answer emails and just keep us posted, you would think that they want us happy so that we sell our freind and family on the idea of paying for radio.:clueless:

 

[Jleimer]

I have always wondered why they don't do a show once a week to explain what the hell is going on. They could answer emails and just keep us posted, you would think that they want us happy so that we sell our freind and family on the idea of paying for radio.:clueless:

That would be nice as well have a show similiar to the Charlie Chat , but instead have a Mel Chat , but knowing Mel is a ex FM guy I doubt it.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

They obliterated soft rock and disco. If you were a fan of any of these types of stations, you would be a bit upset. Why the fuck do we need 25 single artist channels anyway?

 

[ClubSteeler]

They obliterated soft rock and disco. If you were a fan of any of these types of stations, you would be a bit upset. Why the fuck do we need 25 single artist channels anyway?

You know the answer to that one.

They are handsomely paid to provide single artist channels. You don't want commercials do you? You probably don't want the company to close up shop. They have a 3 year price lock. This is a necessary evil, and the only way for the 69 commercial free music channels to generate advertising income.

So, even though I never listen to them, it's not that big of a deal to simply ignore them. Now, I do feel for you people who lose your favorite channels for one of these single-artist channels. That's just not right. I was haoping they would block out a 10-channel block on the dial specifically for single artist channels so that no regular channels would be dicked with.

Even post-merger though, it looks like BoneYard is going to be one of the dicked with channels.