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Commercial-Free ‘POTUS ‘08’ Coming to XM

XM plans to launch a new radio channel dedicated to the 2008 presidential election. The 24-hour, commercial-free channel, created in association with C-SPAN and other media outlets, will be called “POTUS ‘08.” (The channel’s name, pronounced POH-tus, comes from the Secret Service code name for the President of the United States).

The channel will be “free to air” on XM, meaning that it will be broadcast free to all XM radio receivers. If a consumer has an XM radio but doesn’t happen to subscribe to XM, the consumer can still listen to the presidential election channel.

The presidential election channel will feature news updates, candidate interviews, complete speeches, debate coverage, latest polling results, fundraising status, and live call-in shows. The channel will also provide free airtime for presidential candidates to speak to voters. Non-traditional media outlets, such as bloggers and podcasters, will provide content for the channel. It will also air archival audio of historic moments from past campaigns, tapping C-SPAN’s political archive. Additional content will be announced prior to launch.

The channel will preview in June 2007 with live XM original coverage and a re-broadcast of candidate debates hosted by CNN. It will formally launch in September 2007 and air through November 2008.

More than 8 million customers listen to XM, according to the company.