I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn’t fall back to sleep. Insomnia struck again. As I flipped through the channels looking for my makeshift white noise for insomnia cure, I learned something very important. (Well, lets just say that it was important to me at 2:37 AM.) DirecTV is ditching its current Music Choice digital channels, in favor of XM Satellite Radio.

That’s right, new-fangled satellite radio on TV.

Or in other words, satellite radio, without the radio.

The new XM offerings are intended to cover DirecTV’s existing 36 Music Choice channels, and then some. Among the new offerings in the Total Choice package, there are three additional Country channels (X Country, Hank’s Place, and Highway 16), two new Soul channels (Soul Street and The Flow), and a Modern Jazz (Beyond Jazz) channel. Other new channels include The Move (Underground Dance) and The System (Electronica).

Once the change takes place on November 15th, DirecTV’s Total Choice customers will receive 50 XM music channels, while Total Choice Plus and Total Choice Premier customers will receive 67 channels. DirecTV Para Todos customers will receive 7 Latin XM music channels.

I’d gripe about having 57 Channels and nothing on, alas it’s Sirius (not XM) that’s running the special all-Springsteen E-Street Radio channel.

I’m just hoping that the replacements for Soundscapes and Light Classical – my favorite insomnia remedies – are up to the task.

[tags]directv,xm satellite,satellite radio,music choice[/tags]