XM Drops Ads From All Music Channels

XM Satellite Radio has gone commercial-free on all of its music channels. Previously, XM had ads on half of those channels and executives announced at CES it would drop ads entirely from all 68 music channels this month.
Rival Sirius has always been commercial-free on its music channels, which helped to distinguish it from XM.
New channel additions to XM’s music program lineup for 2004 include Highway 16 (XM16), today’s top country hits; Fungus (XM53), everything that is punk, including underground, surf and industrial; The Blend (XM25), adult contemporary music; and Lucy (XM54), the most influential songs in alternative history.
XM has several commercial-free music specials planned for February, featuring a month-long tribute The Beatles. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Fab Four’s arrival in the United States, XM will air an ad-free “Forty Hours for Forty Years in February” including “The Beatles A to Z,” with commentary by XM’s Martin Goldsmith, author of the new book “The Beatles Come to America.”
Other February specials include more than 220 hours of programming celebrating Black History Month.