TheKobra

Thanks for the reminder. I started this thread and forgot all about it.

kenbuzz

Those will be on XM103-XM107 this year. I just heard the promo coming in to work this morning. According to the lineup at XMRadio.com, those will be five new channels, as there's currently a hole from XM102 (Sur La Route) to XM110 (XM Classics).

The lineup will be as follows....
XM103 - Holly – the biggest hits from the 40s through today
XM104 - Holiday Traditions – Holiday classics from the 40s through the 60s.
XM105 - A Nashville Christmas – the biggest holiday country hits.
XM106 - Pops Holiday Classics – the best holiday classical performances
XM107 - Special X-Mas – the best novelty holiday

I do not believe these will appear on DTV's lineup.

boc4ever

Thanks again for the reminder. Tuned into O & A...

nazz

I was happy to tune in and see all of these new channels but the interface still stinks. Couldn't they have dressed that up a bit and given us album covers or at least a cool screensaver? It also wasn't showing the correct song titles. Maybe they're not done tweaking it yet.

Xander

I emailed DirecTV last week and they said that DTV subscribers will be getting 4 holiday channels starting at 12:01 am Thanksgiving day and running through the holidays. Can't remember if they said it ended on Christmas Day or New Years Day. One of the two.

Y2K Falcon

Just snuck in a peek over the weekend and noticed:
- incorrect song info showing on one channel
- no song info showing on RadioDisney

kenbuzz

Can you confirm that? I know that XM subscribers get these channels from 12:01 am Thanksgiving day until 11:59 pm Christmas Day, but there's been no word of the channels being uplinked to DirecTV on either company's website.

Not knowing better, I'm inclined to think that the email talked about XM's lineup, not DirecTV's lineup, but I'm happy to be wrong on this.

Update...

Here's the list of channels these 5 new channels will temporarily replace:
XM103 (Holly) for XM23 (The Heart)
XM104 (Holiday Traditions) for XM31 (The Torch)
XM105 (Nashville Christmas) for XM95 (Luna)
XM106 (Classical Christmas) for XM113 (XM Pops)
XM107 (Special X-Mas) for XM82 (The System)

XM23 (The Heart) is DTV819
XM31 (The Torch) is not part of the XM/DTV lineup
XM95 (Luna) is DTV873 (DirecTV Para Todos only)
XM113 (XM Pops) is DTV866
XM82 (The System) is DTV860

So unless there's a change coming to the DTV lineup to accomodate the new tempoarary channels, regular DTV subscribers appear to get Holly, Classical Christmas and Special X-Mas by default, and Spanish Package subscribers will also get Nashville Christmas (which is kinda weird if you ask me).

Pointyskull

I noticed the same thing this past weekend, one just about every music channel. Kind of annoying.

Xander

Here's the email from the DirecTV person:

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Dear Mr. Xander,

Thanks for your interest in listening to Holiday music on our new XM Satellite Radio service. I understand how important the right music is to you and your family during the Holidays, and we've got good news: With our new XM Radio service, you get not one, but up to four channels of continuous Holiday music starting Thanksgiving Day (November 24) at midnight through Christmas Day at midnight. The four channels available are:

- “Holly” (ch. 819) plays just the biggest Holiday hits from the 40s through today. Classics from the Carpenters and Bobby Helms to more contemporary hits by Elton John and Bruce Springsteen.
- “Special X-Mas” (ch. 860) celebrates the wacky side of the Holidays. Novelty music and beyond that brings you a warped and often humorous perspective of the season. This is where you'll find Cheech and Chong, the Chipmunks, Elmo and Patsy and plenty of others.
- “A Classical Christmas” (ch. 866) showcases a powerful array of classical performances with a holiday theme. The best classical holiday performances from around the world are here on one channel that delivers the grandeur of the season.
- “A Nashville Christmas” (ch. 873) presents the Holidays with a twang by bringing a unique old fashioned family flavor to December with the biggest country stars of all time coming together for a music city holiday.

We hope you enjoy this exciting new service as much as we've enjoyed bringing it to you. For more information about XM Satellite Radio on DIRECTV, go to our web site at DIRECTV.com/XM.

Thanks again for writing and stay tuned to DIRECTV.com for the latest news and information about our service.

Sincerely,

Francis
DIRECTV Customer Service
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Numanoid

This was my big complaint about the previous Music Choice channels. Considering all of the other channels are refreshing their images 30 times a second, it's absolutely ridiculous that an audio-only channel takes 30 seconds or more to simply list the song title and artist, let alone having the rest of the screen remain black. Totally silly.