Posted: 3/6/2010 5:30:00 AM EDT
I always loved Directv but over the past few months things are turning around. Prices have gone up, channels have gone away. Things I got for free, like DVR are now a paid service. Today I went to the usual XM channels and I now have "SonicTap". WTF Directv? You're turning into a regular cable provider.
(weak rant, I know) |
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Pisses me off too. I am an XM and Directv subscriber and was really bummed to see XM removed from my directv. I always found it nice to be able to get out of my truck, go in the house and keep listening to the same station. Directv probably didn't have much say in this decision. Sirius and XM merged last year, Sirius is offered on Dish Network, Echostar (parent company of Dish) is an investor in Sirius. So having a product that you are an investor in offered on a competing platform is bad for business. |
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Starting on February 9th, DirecTV subscribers will find that their XM satellite radio channels will have disappeared - and have been replaced with channels from SonicTap, according to DirecTV's website. Now, why is this more strange than "the usual" content distribution deal gone bad? For one thing, Liberty Media (which has a 40 percent stake in Sirius XM Radio Inc.) also owns DirecTV - so you think there would be a baked in partnership between the two. But not so. On February 9th, 2010, SonicTap will be the new source of music for 18 million DirecTV subscribers. And people aren't happy. The one large notable difference is that there's some 10 more Hispanic music channels added in addition to the other channels. Could this have been the deciding factor for the change? It's hard to say for sure, but I can't imagine why both Liberty-owned companies would part ways unless there was a clear differentiator between the two. Then again, who knows what kind of reasoning is behind the switch. It would be nice to see some level of transparency to explain to subscribers why exactly the change is happening... but I'm not holding my breath. http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/directv-to-replace-xm-with-sonictap.html |