SiriusXM Launches SiriusXM Progress

[Omaha Steve]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/siriusxm-launches-siriusxm-progress-140500066.html

NEW YORK, July 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) today announced the launch of SiriusXM Progress, formerly SiriusXM Left, an expanded 24/7 channel dedicated to progressive politics offering a powerful, diverse lineup of original thought, nuanced opinions and inspiring political discussions.

SiriusXM's Michelangelo Signorile—leading social/political/cultural commentator, Editor-at-Large, Huffington Post Gay Voices, author, journalist and longtime advocate for the most important issues facing the LGBT and progressive communities —will launch a new live, daily, call-in afternoon show on the channel. Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post Media Group and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) are slated to be guests on Signorile's show the week of July 22. Leading progressive voice and Senior Fellow at Media Matters Ari Rabin-Havt will launch a new exclusive morning show dedicated to setting the agenda for the day's politics on SiriusXM Progress, with guests Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, scheduled to appear during the launch week. SiriusXM's Mark Thompson, long known for activism on behalf of the African-American and progressive communities, will continue his early evening daily show. NAACP President/CEO Ben Jealous is scheduled to be one of Thompson's first guests during the launch week. Popular progressive hosts Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann will also continue to be heard daily.

SiriusXM Progress will launch on Monday, July 22 via satellite on channel 127, and through the SiriusXM Internet Radio App on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com.

"From sports to music to all perspectives of political talk, SiriusXM's non-traditional, groundbreaking hosts live their lives in their fields as much as on the air. We are very pleased to launch SiriusXM Progress with that spirit, expanding and enhancing the quality and depth of our diverse political lineup across multiple SiriusXM channels," said Jeremy Coleman, SVP, Talk and Entertainment Programming, SiriusXM. "Whether our audience agrees or disagrees, seeks out information or challenges what they hear, we now offer truly insider radio featuring progressive politics and perspective from veteran activists who have earned their stripes and are ready to take calls from listeners nationwide."

FULL story at link.

[upaloopa]

1. Mark Thompson is great and so are his guests.

He is fair and tells it like he sees it.
He'll listen to a wing nut caller till you want to shout then he calmly tells them what he thinks.

[KoKo]

2. Thanks for Heads Up on that! I still recommend "Potus" Channel on there, though

They have COOL STUFF THERE. Will check out the new thingy, though.

[AZ Mike]

3. Why....

....does Randi Rhodes always seem to be out of the loop? She is the best of the lot. I don't get it.

[House of Roberts]

4. I was watching Bill Press this morning.

Apparently this 'new' channel is excluding his show from the lineup.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Oh no!

Boo!

[femmocrat]

7. How about Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz?

Anyone know?

[House of Roberts]

8. It's in the OP.

Popular progressive hosts Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann will also continue to be heard daily.

[femmocrat]

9. Thank you!

Guess I was speed-reading! LOL

[Omaha Steve]

12. IF they keep the Left + you can get Bill Press online in it's entirety

I was pissed when they cut into Bill's show for Alex instead. Then they put Bill on Left + (781) online. I listen to him every morning until I head to work. Well worth the $3 a month for online and phone access.

[bbgrunt]

6. Why can't they put Malloy on live again? Sounds like they're

just reprogramming the channel--not devising a new channel. So what is to become of the Ed Schultz show and Tom Hartmann?

[cascadiance]

10. Anyone have a comparison of the old lineup with the newer lineup?

Sirius XM has screwed Thom Hartmann in the past when they aired Lynn Samuels over his last two hours of his show when he aired between 9 AM - noon PST.. Now it looks like Michelangelo Signorile Show is now in his timeframe (at least his live timeframe) between 3-6 PM.

Will they delay Thom Hartmann's show to go to 6 PM to 9 PM PST (9 PM to 12 midnight EST) slot in place of where Ari Rabin-Havt used to air (since that will be a hole)?

I'm guessing that Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz will still air in their time slots according to these newer changes.

Kind of p's me off that they're relegating Thom Hartmann's talk show to be no longer live so that those listening to it can no longer call in to it live when it is one of the top progressive talk shows now, and certainly the one that entertains the greatest consructive thought in my opinion. At least FSTV airs it live still. I'm wondering if this is related to Thom Hartmann's recent gesture to those here in Portland to get his show carried by KBOO for free here, in the aftermath of Clear Channel shutting down KPOJ.

I'm also wondering if this move is a slow motion reducing the prominent progressivism of this channel as a result of Liberty Communications recently buying out Sirius/XM (now monopoly), that earlier NewsCorp (who shares a lot of stock ownership with Liberty) tried to buy out earlier.

There's a lot of stock ownership games they are playing after shuffling out the old board and management of Sirius/XM. There's talk of them selling off some Sirius/XM stock recently to build their media ownership to buy out Time Warner, etc. too.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2013/01/23/malone-liberty-media-sirius-xm.html

I'm concerned that if they might be doing a more slow motion Clear-Channel dissolution of this channel. Instead of just throwing it away and replacing it with sports, perhaps they are just making more prominent shows that don't have as high national ratings as shows like Thom Hartmann, etc. to later have more of a justification to shut things down if they have less ratings. Though a lot of what Michelangelo Signorile's show does is talk about politics, and is pretty reasonable at times, it still is more focused on LGBT issues than politics in general, so that perhaps is also part of the plan of trying to get this channel less focused on pure politically progressive/left issues as well as perhaps finding a way to deflate ratings to shut it down later?

Then again, perhaps they have more competition from over the air airing of Thom Hartmann in places that want them to differentiate their offerings from those shows? Somehow with the recent shutting down of KPOJ and other stations, etc. like it, I doubt this. They probably know that many subscribers to Sirius/XM like me would cancel my subscription tomorrow if they were to shut down Sirius Left altogether tomorrow.

I have to admit that I might look more towards newer car radios that have cell network reception built in to it that would allow reception of radio services like Pandora, Slacker, and perhaps other cell-based progressive broadcast networks that now might include the likes of Thom Hartmann, and Carl Wolfson, who is now broadcasting over the internet since KPOJ was shut down.

If they stop airing Thom Hartmann live, I'll start looking into this more aggressively soon.

[1-Old-Man]

11. Thank you!