Sirius XM Changing Lineups, Starting Tomorrow

By Marty Padgett

Marty Padgett

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New SiriusXM channel lineup

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Starting tomorrow, drivers who subscribe to SiriusXM in their cars are going to find a changed landscape on their tuners.

Effective May 4, SiriusXM says they've "re-ordered our channels to make it easier for you to quickly find what you want to hear."

The new lineups make better sense of the channels that the two brands, Sirius and XM, brought together in their 2008 merger. For example, all the comedy channels now span a range in the low 90s, running right into Howard Stern's blockbusters at 100 and 101.

The company says it'll make it easier to navigate, but for a primer, they're steering customers to their website so they can compare how old and new channels now work together. It's also doing the work on presets behind the curtains, so listeners don't have to change preset buttons on their audio systems--they'll redirect to the channels the user intended.

The move also makes channels consistent over hardware that might have been purchased when Sirius and XM still were separate entities--and as a result, former Sirius subscribers may have to take a few more steps to get their radios in sync.

The company suggests you scroll through the official changeover FAQ on the SiriusXM site if you have more questions.

We noticed one more detail, that could just be for simpler navigation, or could be a bit of corporate foreshadowing. On the dropdowns for channel packages, the brand name's been changed from "Sirius Family Friendly," for example, to "XM Family Friendly."

Does that mean the "Sirius" brand is on the way out? We're not sure, but we do know the struggling company doesn't need to worry about conflicting brands--it needs to worry about in-car audio streaming from the likes of Pandora.

SiriusXM hit an all-time subscriber high in the first quarter, with 20.6 million paying customers in all, up by 373,000.

[SiriusXM]