Counterfeit preemptions.

[Bob Peters]

Despite XMs claim to be "preempting" a handful of channels for promised
ball games and music events, all I've heard on the channel for which I
buy XM, channel 167, is a loop making such a claim, and no such content,
nor the network that's supposed to be played there.

I've checked XM's website for the ostensible schedule of such ostensible
preemptions and all that's there is a link to a non-existent pdf file.
(A right-click gets a "shell" of a pdf with no data, and a regular left
click of the link gets an error page stating that the site has been
updated recently and left broken.)

Given that I have to go to Air America's website to stream the content
for which I buy XM off of the internet instead, and the ostensible
content for which it's being "preempted" isn't being played on it's
channel, then can some of the fanbois on these boards give me a valid
reason why I should continue to pay money for a signal I'm not being
provided?

[YKW (ad hoc)]

Post by Bob Peters
Despite XMs claim to be "preempting" a handful of channels for
promised ball games and music events, all I've heard on the channel
for which I buy XM, channel 167, is a loop making such a claim, and no
such content, nor the network that's supposed to be played there.
I've checked XM's website for the ostensible schedule of such
ostensible preemptions and all that's there is a link to a
non-existent pdf file. (A right-click gets a "shell" of a pdf with no
data, and a regular left click of the link gets an error page stating
that the site has been updated recently and left broken.)

http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/preemption_0806.pdf worked for me. I'm sure
this weekend's list will be up shortly.

Post by Bob Peters
Given that I have to go to Air America's website to stream the content
for which I buy XM off of the internet instead, and the ostensible
content for which it's being "preempted" isn't being played on it's
channel, then can some of the fanbois on these boards give me a valid
reason why I should continue to pay money for a signal I'm not being
provided?

All channels are subject to pre-emption (or even cancellation, though
that's not the matter at hand). The guide positions of channels that are
being pre-empted, though, aren't usually reused for the pre-empting
programming. Instead, the channel's bandwidth is divvied up and reused by
channels in the various sports groupings. A single stream is then
broadcast and re-mapped to all positions being pre-empted explaining the
reason for the pre-emption.

If that bothers you enough, if six or eight weekend hours off-air is just
too much for your bleeding heart to bear, then you should cancel.
Otherwise, man up and watch MSNBC for a few hours or something.
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<http://tinyurl.com/5rxsvp/#comment-665962>

[Bob Peters]

Post by YKW (ad hoc)
http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/preemption_0806.pdf worked for me. I'm sure
this weekend's list will be up shortly.

So they finally did fix the link to when the channels "will be" killed
three days ago. Wasn't up yet, yesterday.

Sounds like a representative example of XM's level of competence.

Post by YKW (ad hoc)
All channels are subject to pre-emption (or even cancellation, though
that's not the matter at hand). The guide positions of channels that are
being pre-empted, though, aren't usually reused for the pre-empting
programming. Instead, the channel's bandwidth is divvied up and reused by
channels in the various sports groupings. A single stream is then
broadcast and re-mapped to all positions being pre-empted explaining the
reason for the pre-emption.

Sounds like a new definition of preemption in broadcast terms, then.
Take on more channels than they can use at any one time and then rob
Peter to pay Paul.

Post by YKW (ad hoc)
If that bothers you enough, if six or eight weekend hours off-air is just
too much for your bleeding heart to bear, then you should cancel.
Otherwise, man up and watch MSNBC for a few hours or something.

And even have balls enough to dare to spread negative consumer word
against companies that can't or won't serve their consumers to satisfaction.

Boy, if more customers did that then some people might actually come to
expect the content advertised to be delivered. Who knows what other
ways that could lead to corporations being expected to deliver what they
sell?