Broadcast area United States
Canada First air date 2008-11-12 | Frequency SR113
XM120 Owner Sirius XM Radio | |
Format Holiday & Special Occasions Class Satellite Radio Station | ||
Specials is a part-time satellite radio channel which plays select special events and shows for Sirius and XM. When the channel was XM Live, some special events were broadcast in XM HD Surround, which was a 5.1 surround sound audio/CD quality stereo feed. XM Live broadcast musical events, concerts, sporting events, and weekly talk shows. The channel is available to XM Satellite Radio customers on Channel 120, And to Sirius Satellite Radio customers on Channel 113.
Contents
History
When Specials first began on XM as XM Live, it was part of the hits section on XM26 (The Pulse now sits there). Its original purpose was to play live musical events (live as in on-stage, since most were recorded). Special events at the time were a part of Special X. On September 14, 2002, XM Live was moved to channel 168, where its format stayed the same for a couple more years. In 2004, the channel was moved to 200, and the live performances format was dropped so that XM Live could be a multi-purpose special events channel. The channel would play select sporting events, concerts, and some of XM's exclusive series such as Artist Confidential and Then...Again...Live!. In 2005, XM Live was doubled into 2 channels (the other on XM201) for the Live 8 multi-cast on XM. Since early 2006, XM Live has not played the Artist Confidential or Then...Again...Live! series', instead leaving those for the music channels in which they simulcast on. XM Live has also opened itself up to exclusive talk show programming, starting with 60/20 Sports with James Carville and Luke Russert. In July 2006, XM Live began airing The Agenda with Joe Solmonese. The Agenda currently streams through XM Radio Online channel 137
In April 2007, XM Live moved to XM channel 120 to make more room for XM's college play-by-play channels. Big East Conference games had been broadcast by channel previously.
Since its move the channel has been more focused on niche programming, such as special weekends of music devoted to a specific theme, usually coinciding with a holiday i.e. Labor Day (songs relating to cars), 4 July (music with a patriotic theme). While special events have all but moved to music channels, or to XMX. The channel also occasionally broadcast news events, or programming relating to it.
On September 30, 2008, XM Live was deleted from the XM lineup. XMX handled most of XM's special event programming. XM has not indicated whether or not they would continue their micro-channels.
On November 12, 2008 XM Live Returned to the lineup as Specials. The channel was also added to Sirius (SR 113) following the XM/Sirius Merger. Also, XMX was dropped from the XM lineup.