# XM Eyeing Commercials...Again



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

*"Four music stations programmed by Clear Channel 
Communications will start carrying advertising"*

XM Satellite is going back to commercials.

When the service first launched, advertising showed up on some
of the channels on a limited basis. But that commercial push went
away quickly in 2004 after the satellite radio service went into 
head-to-head competition with Sirius. Now, according to Wednesday's
Wall Street Journal, commercials are back at the No. 1 DARS player.

The business publication said that in the next few weeks, four music
stations on XM programmed by Clear Channel Communications will 
start carrying advertising, required under terms of a recently negotiated
settlement between the companies - and competitors.

Clear Channel and other traditional radio broadcasters have been
battling satellite radio, though the AM/FM giant has a stake in XM.
At first, Clear Channel's ownership in XM was 19 percent, but through
dilution and stock sales that stake is now 3.2 percent.

www.SkyReport.com - used with permission


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Ah, yes, a new marketing advance by Sirius. I find it interesting that they made a big deal of getting rid of advertising when they raised the price from $9.99 to $12.99 per month. Of course, this obviously means they will roll back subscription prices to $9.99.


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## speedcouch (Jun 23, 2004)

Any idea which FOUR channels will have commercials? I certainly hope it's none of my favorites (7, 46, 10, 11, 16).

Cheryl


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## FavreJL04 (Feb 4, 2006)

speedcouch said:


> Any idea which FOUR channels will have commercials? I certainly hope it's none of my favorites (7, 46, 10, 11, 16).
> 
> Cheryl


Sources on XMFan and XM411 state that the four channels that will use commercials are 11-Nashville, 21-Kiss, 22-Mix, and 24-Sunny. I have not seen an "official" statement on these stations, but that seems to be the going word right now.


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## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

Richard King said:


> Ah, yes, a new marketing advance by Sirius.


What does this have to do with Sirius?


Richard King said:


> I find it interesting that they made a big deal of getting rid of advertising when they raised the price from $9.99 to $12.99 per month. Of course, this obviously means they will roll back subscription prices to $9.99.


XM has publically stated that they are still committed to commercial free music channels. This goes back to a deal that they made to get Clear Channel to invest in their startup. I don't know the details, but apparently they had some sort of ad revenue sharing agreement with CC and when they pulled the ads CC took them to arbitration and won. Now XM must air a certain amount of commercials. That's why they added WLW from Cinncinnati to their lineup. I think CC is playing hardball trying to make XM look bad. They don't want XM advertising 100% commercial free music. XM has changed their ad to the most commercial free music channels.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> I think CC is playing hardball trying to make XM look bad.


i think you got that right.


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

Richard King said:


> i think you got that right.


XM can play hardball right back. The've announced that they will add 4 new channels to offset the ones from CC. Next, I'd bet they bump the CC channels up into the 200's. Most listeners would forget they were even there.


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## matty8199 (Dec 4, 2005)

XM should add commercial free versions of the stations they're being forced to add commercials on, as a way to tell CC to go F*@# themselves...

on edit: GMTA, LtMunst - you beat me to it by 2 mins...

Have they announced the new channels?


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## matty8199 (Dec 4, 2005)

Here's a part of the official release from XM, confirming what channels will have commercials added:

http://www.xmradio.com/lineup/letter.jsp



> This spring we will add a variety of new, commercial-free music channels and exciting new formats, details for which we'll announce in the next month. Because of their early investment in XM, radio broadcasting company Clear Channel Communications provides programming for their music channels (KISS, MIX, Nashville and Sunny and a fifth music channel in development), as well as content for select talk channels. An arbitration panel recently ruled that Clear Channel has the right to include commercials on the music programming that it provides XM. As a result, these channels will start to carry commercials this spring. At the same time, XM will add new commercial-free music channels of its own so that subscribers will see no reduction in the total number of commercial-free music channels. We currently have 69 commercial-free music channels and that number will not change, even after Clear Channel starts to include commercials.


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

Where are they going to get the bandwidth to add 4 new music channels?

I don't suppose they could compress the &*(^ out of the CC channels, could they?


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

matty8199 said:


> XM should add commercial free versions of the stations they're being forced to add commercials on, as a way to tell CC to go F*@# themselves...
> 
> on edit: GMTA, LtMunst - you beat me to it by 2 mins...
> 
> Have they announced the new channels?


i think they should move them to online only then replace them with the same format ,with new names


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Word on XM411 is that CC is guaranteed 250Kbps of bandwidth for their 4 channels.


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## georgecostanza (Jan 11, 2005)

just one more reason to dump XM, Sirius is the place to be.


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

i just wont listen to the 4 channels thats all 

not dumping my xm for anything i love it


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## unxadm (Jun 13, 2005)

pez2002 said:


> i just wont listen to the 4 channels thats all
> 
> not dumping my xm for anything i love it


I am going to have them parental blocked that way they won't even show up. Who knows maybe by having them blocked it will be one less listener that has the ability to listen to any CC stations. I would hope that means when CC trys to sell adveritsing they would have to minus off the folks who have the channel blocked. Might send a message.


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## crkeehn (Apr 23, 2002)

flemingljr said:


> just one more reason to dump XM, Sirius is the place to be.


Since you brought up the point...

Why can't Sirius and XM coexist? If you like Sirius, enjoy it. If you like XM, Enjoy it.

Personally, I subcribe to XM, I don't listen to any of the Clear Channel Stations and I have no interest in switching, especially since Sirius doesn't carry MLB.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

It's funny but with the changes coming in the talk shows on Sirius I am thinking of switching to XM. :lol:


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

crkeehn said:


> Since you brought up the point...
> 
> Why can't Sirius and XM coexist? If you like Sirius, enjoy it. If you like XM, Enjoy it.
> 
> Personally, I subcribe to XM, I don't listen to any of the Clear Channel Stations and I have no interest in switching, especially since Sirius doesn't carry MLB.


Because like any industry where there are two major players hatred breads with the service you don't choose. Ford v Chevy, Pepsi v Coke, DirecTV v Dish.

Having both XM and Sirius is the only option, and I will never drop either service. XM is being forced to add commercials on the 4 stations Clear Channel had a hand in, none of which I listen to. Hopefully when this agreement expires so will these channels. I hate the fact XM is adding commercials, but it not their choice, and I will continue to love and support XM Satellite Radio ALONG with Sirius Satellite Radio.


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## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

crkeehn said:


> Since you brought up the point...
> 
> Why can't Sirius and XM coexist? If you like Sirius, enjoy it. If you like XM, Enjoy it.


It's just a childish mine's better than your's argument. I have XM only because that's what my wife got me. It's okay 'cause I really like baseball on the radio, but I'd love to have Sirius for football and some of their college sports (Iowa State is on Sirius  ). Just can't justify 2 subscriptions.


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## djwww98 (Jan 12, 2006)

I've spent a lot of time listening to both...XM via D* at work and Sirius in my car. Before we got D* at work I was streaming Sirius over the internet. I've come to the conclusion that I prefer Sirius. I like the channel selection better and more importantly, Sirius has much better sound quality. Even streaming over the internet the quality is good; the sound quality is as good if not better than any other streaming source I've run across. XM via D* is horrible...worse than FM...basically standard def tv quality, which is like AM radio. Given the choice, I stream Sirius.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> Even streaming over the internet the quality is good


You call 34K streaming good? I can't even listen to XM Online at 65K. Both sound like a tin can. For online streaming I use Shoutcast on Winamp. If you think Sirius sounds good you should here something at 256K.

Have you ever listened to Sirius and XM on the same system, whether plug and play or head units? I have my SkyFi 2 and Sportster Replay (both latest generation models) connected to the same home theater receiver, via the same type of cable. While the two sound different I wouldn't say either one sounds significantly better. And SDTV audio quality is not equivalent to AM radio. quite a few of my SD channels are in Dolby Digital 2.0. Are you saying AM radio is like Dolby Digital?


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

On April 1st XM will be launching new channels to replace the Clear Channel stations. If XM was smart they would have moved the 4 commercial stations to the talk/entertainment side of the line up and that way they could still claim 100% Commercial Free Music. They did the with MTV and VH1 Radio, Sirius does it with WSM and both do it with Radio Disney.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

flemingljr said:


> just one more reason to dump XM, Sirius is the place to be.


Great idea. Which channel does Sirius have to replace Cinemagic, my favorite channel?

Oh yeah, they don't have one. BUZZZZZ! Thanks for playing!


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## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

I wonder if D* will swap out the Clear Channel stations for their replacements when the commercials begin.


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## IndyMichael (Jan 25, 2003)

Well this sucks, we listen mainly to mix 22, kiss 21 and 20 on 20. Will the channels xm adds, be similar to these?


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## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

IndyMichael said:


> Well this sucks, we listen mainly to mix 22, kiss 21 and 20 on 20. Will the channels xm adds, be similar to these?


Yes - according to the rumor mill. They've also said they are going to bring back XMLM (XM Liquid Metal).


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

IndyMichael said:


> Well this sucks, we listen mainly to mix 22, kiss 21 and 20 on 20. Will the channels xm adds, be similar to these?


If these are really the channels you listen to most, why did you leave terrestrial radio?...just kidding. 

Actually, so far the new channels are different. XmChill is more of a Trip-Hoppy channel and Big Tracks is more an 80's classic Rock channel.


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## IndyMichael (Jan 25, 2003)

LtMunst said:


> If these are really the channels you listen to most, why did you leave terrestrial radio?...just kidding.


I know you're kidding, but mainly to not have to change from station to station when one starts commercials. At home, if not listening to xm on directv, I listen to http://www.wklu.net they play commercials only once an hour and for only 2-3 minutes, so I can go days without hearing commercials on them. Hopefully is is true that the new xm channels will be very similar, if not exactly like the ones clear channel will be making have commercials.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

BobMurdoch said:


> Great idea. Which channel does Sirius have to replace Cinemagic, my favorite channel?


The closest they come is Broadway's Best. XM is decidedly better for those who can't stand mainstream music.


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