XM on DirecTV

Occasionally big companies do things that are really cool. DirecTV decided to partner up with XM Radio. I’ve been avoiding the idea of paying for another damn subscription service, even though XM has one station which I just love: “Beyond Jazz”, a modern jazz station. There aren’t enough paying public radio customers in most metro regions to support a regular jazz station, let aloe a modern jazz one. “Beyond Jazz” became my “while travelling and in an Avis rental car with XM” station.
On November 15, all of DirecTV’s digital music channels flipped to XM Radio channels, so now instead of “Soundscapes” (relaxing music) or “Songs of the Season” (usually mild electronica when it’s not a holiday), I can get my modern jazz fix through my TV. And since they display the artist and song title for each song, it’s probably going to be bad for my pocketbook in the long run. I’m okay with that though. 🙂