NASCAR Weekend & Satellite Radio Thoughts
While I was away in Denver for Dish Network’s Team Summit event, Dish Network launched one of the most widely requested HD channel in recent memory. The channel to launch was Speed Channel HD.
The launch of Speed HD couldn’t have come at a better time as it was just in time for this weekends Sprint All-Star race. NASCAR fans were able to tune into an exciting race and watch it all in glorious high definition. And what an exciting finish to the race, as in lap 99 of 100 Tony Stewart passed Matt Kenseth to win the All Star Race. (Congrats Smoke!)
Speed HD was one channel many Dish NASCAR fans were waiting for and in fact over the last year many NASCAR fans left Dish Network for DirecTV so that they could see all the NASCAR and other racing events in full HD.
Speed HD was just one of 5 HD channels added during the Team Summit event, also added in HD was FX HD, Logo HD, Fashion Television HD & MavTV HD.
Dish Network now claims they offer over 140 national HD channels. That channels count includes HD PPV channels and HD RSN’s. Unlike DirecTV Dish Network does not offer any 24 hours HD RSN’s except for Big 10 Network. All HD RSN’s on Dish are select game time only coverage. (Meaning not all HD games are carried on Dish Network in HD.)
The race was a great race, but being able to see it in full high definition on Speed HD was even better.
Satellite Radio Thoughts
It’s been awhile since we talked about Satellite Radio here in the Satellite Dish and since this week XM is offering the Howard Stern channels for FREE this week I figured it would be a great time.
First off as I mentioned above subscribers to XM will be able to tune into the two Howard Stern Channels (Howard 100 and Howard 101) for a free preview of those channels which are normally only available on XM in the Best of Sirius add on pack.
Besides channel 100 which is just 24 hours a day of The Howard Stern Show, channel 101 offers The Stern Show plus offers other shows such as the popular Bubba The Love Sponge show and for sports fans there is the Scott Ferrall Show on at night.
And while I am a fan of the Howard Stern Show I do hope that Sirius XM has plans for more promotions for Sirius XM then besides just pushing the Stern Show. Howard is now halfway done with his reported 5 year $500 million contract with Sirius and the way Howard has been talking lately it appears he has no plans of renewing when his contract is up.
Sirius XM needs to put the focus back on what originally made satellite radio great, and that is the programming. Since the merger, most of the channels had the staff and programming slashed in an effort to save money. However now most Sirius XM music channels sound no different then free FM stations. Station playlists that had thousands of songs have been cut down to just play the hits and now the playlists are just a few hundred songs.
At one time you could listen to a channel on XM and never hear a song repeated on that channel all day. You use to also be able to call in and talk to the DJ’s and make requests which would normally be played immediately after your call. But today almost everything is voice tracked. The personal feeling that Satellite Radio use to have and the great live personalities are all gone.
Now is the time for Sirius XM to work on its programming, as after Howard leaves there will be nothing left.
Satellite Radio was great and Satellite Radio could be great again.
PocketRadio commented:
@Jackie:
HD Radio is a farce!
hdradiofarce.blogspot.com
Jeffro commented:
When celebrities talk about not coming back to a show or renewing their contract like Howard Stern is, what they are really doing is tring to get a better contract deal (more money) from their bosses.
Jackie commented:
HD Radio is starting to gain some popularity and it's FREE as long as you have an HD Radio receiver. For more info on HD Radio check out www.hdradiotuner.org
Sunshine 99 commented:
I meant to say I do not work for Sonos, sorry.
Sunshine 99 commented:
I too was a big XM promoter until I discovered the power of the free radio station available in I-tunes(free also). Then I discovered Sonos and moving music around the house was so simple and easy. Listen to different channels in different rooms of the house. (No I do work for Sonos)I admit I miss XM in the car, but with an IPod in the car I am good to go.
If you haven't tried it you may be surprised at the variety and quality of the radio stations and its free.
dishnet commented:
your column forgot to mention that some of those hd channels are NOT available to current Dishhd absolute customers... excited to be getting speed hd? or fx? NOT.....
someone care to explain why I would want to cancel my grandfathered Dishhd absolute for 29.95 (which includes many turbo gold channels btw) and then pay 39 or 49.99 for those same channels?? dish needs to think of there existing customers.... no wonder many people leave....
Reaper commented:
As a longtime XM subscriber, I really find the talking over the beginning of songs to be annoying. Scott's right too; it's all voice tracked - so they PLAN on talking over song intros. For a pay service, that is just terrible.
I also miss the variety of songs that XM used to play. I like 80's style hard rock so I listen to Hair Nation now. It's pretty good, they play a lot of songs that I like. But what is missing is new songs from these artists. The Boneyard used to have "Breaking Bone" songs that were fresh tracks by 80's era artists. I really miss that.
XM Sirius could be unique in the marketplace, but not if the continue to pattern their music stations after free FM stations.
Mike commented:
As a Sirius subscriber, i wish they would do away with all the DJs and just play the music. there is always some dj talking over the intro to a song, mostly on the rock stations.
