# Play Ball! MLB on XM



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Baseball fans can listen to every game for every team on XM Satellite Radio this
season. The sat radio company will air the full lineup of 2,400-plus MLB games
from Opening Night to the final game of the World Series. To celebrate the season,
XM is launching a special radio channel called Play Ball! featuring a mix of music,
vintage baseball audio, and conversations with legends of the game. PlayBall!
will air from March 30 to April 2 on XM 200.


----------



## DonCorleone (Jan 29, 2006)

Nick said:


> Baseball fans can listen to every game for every team on XM Satellite Radio this
> season. The sat radio company will air the full lineup of 2,400-plus MLB games
> from Opening Night to the final game of the World Series. To celebrate the season,
> XM is launching a special radio channel called Play Ball! featuring a mix of music,
> ...


I have Sirius...why couldn't they get that merger done sooner????


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

It won't matter. Neither XM not Sirius has the spare bandwidth to add the other's exclusive programming. That means no baseball on Sirius and no Stern or NFL on XM. The radios can't be reprogramemd to accept the other's compression scheme, either.


----------



## brownclown (Feb 28, 2007)

djlong said:


> It won't matter. Neither XM not Sirius has the spare bandwidth to add the other's exclusive programming. That means no baseball on Sirius and no Stern or NFL on XM. The radios can't be reprogramemd to accept the other's compression scheme, either.


When the merger takes effect you will be able to listen to all exclusive sports programming on your receiver, as long as they still carry the various sports programming. It will be 1 company, they will be ready. They will weed out the repetitive channels, thus increasing bandwith.


----------



## DonCorleone (Jan 29, 2006)

That's what I'm hearing as well. Djlong's comments don't seem accurate.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Face it, if this alleged merger ever takes place, which it won't, no one has any idea what will actually happen. I don’t care what Mel or anyone else said, things change, obstacles will come about and so on. At this point is it completely pointless to even think about such crap, so just enjoy what you got.


----------



## dclaryjr (Mar 11, 2007)

Nick said:


> Baseball fans can listen to every game for every team on XM Satellite Radio this season..


Any chance this will be available over the online version?


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Nope, XM does not have the rights to broadcast the MLB online.


----------



## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

Steve Mehs said:


> Face it, if this alleged merger ever takes place, which it won't, no one has any idea what will actually happen. I don't care what Mel or anyone else said, things change, obstacles will come about and so on. At this point is it completely pointless to even think about such crap, so just enjoy what you got.


Right on I tried to tell this to someone i know who wants xm and they are scared to buy it i said Just buy it and enjoy it


----------



## cantfish2much (Feb 5, 2007)

DonCorleone said:


> That's what I'm hearing as well. Djlong's comments don't seem accurate.


This is exactly what a mailing I received from XM on Friday indicated.


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

The mailing I got said I wasn't going to lose anything.

Here's the quote:
[start]
Between today and the merger date, as well as during the period immediately after the merger date, all of your services will remain the same. The channel lineup, the customer service number, the great music technology, and the XM Radio web site will all remain unchanged and there will be no disruption to service. 
[end]

In addition, I also know they are at their bandwidth limit. Ask anyone who heard the SQ diminish last year when they added the "anti-Clear-Channel" channels.

I also know that the only interoperable part of any consumer XM/Sirius hardware is the antenna.

XM uses one compression scheme, Sirius is completely different.

The radios cannot be reprogrammed to handle new compression schemes.

SO tell me how Stern can show up on XM or how baseball can show up on Sirius *without* losing channels? The math just doesn't add up.

Now - if they do some sort of receiver swap-out *then* they can get rid of duplicate channels and merge some similar ones. THis is how you get the effective bandwidth increase since, say, Fox News wouldn't take up 2 channels worth of bandwidth. But that means replacing more than THIRTEEN MILLION receivers.

*If* the receivers were compatible, *then* I might be more inclined to be in favor of this merger. But absent any direction on what the merged company is going to do for the consumer as far as solving the challenges listed above, I just don't see the benefit.


----------



## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

The XM quote only includes the period from now until "immediately after the merger date." 

Since the XM website is promoting "the best of both services " (or it was,) that means whatever they consider not the "best" will be gone, to make room for the "best." Since they are pledging hardware to remain usable, evidently they will simulcast the new service over both satellites to all receivers.

Who knows what they will eliminate to be able to keep "the best" available to the combined subscriber base? I'm betting they will figure out how offer all the sports packages.

I do find it noteworty that subscribers who once were posting "FCC, keep your hands off satellite radio!!" are now posting "FCC, stop the satellite merger!" messages.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> I do find it noteworty that subscribers who once were posting "FCC, keep your hands off satellite radio!!" are now posting "FCC, stop the satellite merger!" messages.


There's a difference between interfering with the content the SDARS providers broadcast and interfering with the SDARS companies themselves when it comes to the business side. The Federal Censorship Corporation is not the only agency that has say in this anyhow.



> Who knows what they will eliminate to be able to keep "the best" available to the combined subscriber base?


That's exactly way I'm against this. I like some channels on Sirius better, some on XM better. 138 channels of commercial free music and probably another 50 of unique talk content can't beat that. I like Big Tracks over Classic Rewind, some may not.


----------

