New HD for DirecTV / Satellite Radio Nightmare
DirecTV customers woke up this morning to find a new national HD channel in their lineups. Early this morning DirecTV lit up Fox News in high definition. DirecTV has been carrying the Fox Business Channel in HD since it launched, however it took them awhile to get Fox News in HD.
Fans of Fox News have been flooding internet message boards happy that Fox News HD has been added to the DirecTV lineup before the election.
Dish Network does not carry Fox News HD nor Fox Business News in its lineups.
Satellite Radio Nightmare
I got to admit it I love satellite radio, and I was also one of these excited by the idea of the merger of both companies. But my excitement about satellite radio is quickly fading and my love affair with satellite radio is quickly turning into a nightmare.
Lots of rumors are floating around that Sirius will be giving pink slips to 80 XM employees and that on November 5th a lot of my favorite XM channels will be replaced by the Sirius version of those channels.
I have been a subscriber to both services since they came online, for me XM has always had much deeper playlists, many times when enjoying XM’s decades channels I was surprised by songs I haven’t heard in years, however the decades channels on Sirius have always been the top 40 songs from the decade with many songs repeated throughout the day.
It appears that on November 5th some if not all of XM’s decades channels will be replaced by Sirius’s decade’s channels. While the Sirius decades channels do have better personalities on most of their decade’s channels, one decade channel I would hate to lose is XM’s 60’s on 6. XM’s DJ’s Terry “Motor mouth” Young and Phlash Phelps are able to recreate the feeling like you are listening to radio in the 60’s. It would be a shame to see this station go; if Sirius does anything with it I would hope that they would add “Cousin” Brucie Morrow to the staff to complete the station.
Another XM channel that is being rumored as being cut is one of my favorites, “Cinemagic”. Cinemagic plays music, themes and short audio clips from movies. It is unlike any radio station I have ever heard. I play Cinemagic in my own home theater and it gives a feeling like you are getting ready to enjoy an epic. If they do decide to remove this station I would honestly consider dropping some of my radios off my subscription.
If Sirius duplicates its programming on XM and removes move of the XM experience, then honestly for me there is no reason for me to subscribe to Sirius, instead I will keep XM because I would be able to listen to most of Sirius’s music channels on XM and in addition also be able to listen to the Howard Stern Show and Bubba the Love Sponge. In addition I would be able to enjoy all sports broadcasts on XM including Major League Baseball and the NFL. There would be no need for me to have Sirius at all if these changes are true.
For me the Satellite Radio merger is turning into a Satellite Radio nightmare for me. It appears that others might be feeling the same way too… have you seen Sirius’ stock price lately?
Digital Radio Talk
If you’re a fan like me of radio technology such as Satellite radio and HD Radio a new website has opened this week which I am really impressed with, that site is DigitalRadioCentral.COM. This site is made up by many who have been involved in the satellite radio / satellite television community for a long time. There is talk about Satellite Radio, plus other new digital radio technologies such as Slacker, HD Radio, Pandora and other Digital Radio services. I do hope you stop by and check it out.
Have a great weekend!
Mike commented:
It'd be nice to see Directv add some Sirius talk channels. Rural radio reception sucks and Directv would add value with Sirius Patriot.
dishshmish commented:
satellite radio is dead, just as the predictions said it would be when they first started programming the channels in '01 and '02.
MLBurks commented:
They better not drop XM 40's on 4. There is not duplicate on Sirius (since they made the stupid move of dropping Swing Street). I listen to XM 40's A LOT and would drop my subs if they were to remove the 40's channel. The same goes for Cinemagic as well.
DodgerKing commented:
Also let me add, I was typing that as I was listening to XM online.
BTW, Direct WILL be adding even more HD channels THIS month.
DodgerKing commented:
The main reason I chose XM over Sirius to begin with is for MLB. That is not going away.
As long as they don't cut XM's Deep Tracks, Top Tracks, or Big Tracks I will be happy.
Bob commented:
It appears that neither Fox News Channel in High Definition nor the Fox Business Network will be seen on Dish Network at least until after the News Corporation's lawsuit over the placement of FNC on Dish Net's AT200 as opposed to their AT100 package is settled.