I purchased the factory installed radio package, with the main goal to have Opie and Anthony available. Now, I knew I probably would have to pay extra since they are not part of the Sirius Everything package - so I get the car, activate it, then add the XM portion to it which includes:
197 The Virus

However, still nothing lists on my radio after waiting 5 days using it and checking daily. Anyone know if these built in car radios do not support certain stations? I cannot find any information on their website, but I am even able to listen to the channel on my computer on their website. So I know my account is provisioned for it.

 

If it is a XM carry over station you will need a radio that picks up the XM stations. Straight Sirius recievers will not pick up the crossover stations and that is why they sell the Sirius/XM (interoperable) units. The new radios that are called "interoperable" will pick up both but I do not think the MINI OEM Siruis Radio is an interoperable style radio and if it is not you are out of luck.

Others have complained about this as well.

 

WTH is Sirius/XM doing here? Just broadcast the damn stations over the Sirius birds, and problem is solved. I hate those guys. Crappy low-bandwidth music channels, commercials when it's a pay service, crazy-difficult to cancel an auto-renewal, and now this nonsense. Crappy company.

 

I love my radio but Sirius sux. They can't keep the billing straight. It take forever to fix a service problem. I finally got them to take 50% off both of my radios for a year. I sold my BMW and bought a new radio. I told them which to take out. They took out my BMW and the one in my wifes car. So I had to call and straighten that out and get them to give me the 50% off on that radio again. I love the music and channels. I've been a subscriber since 2005. My rates have greatly increased and I have lost options. I have to pay more to listen online or on m iphone. That option was free with a second radio.

 

I honestly don't believe (since I don't have the factory option, I added a Stiletto instead) that the MINI/BMW Sirius tuner will support the "Best of XM" package. Only a handful of the newest Sirius radios support those extra Sirius channels (including all Stilettos). I quick confirmed this in some BMW forums. So, I think you are out of luck, as ridiculous as it seems.

BMW announced a new Sirius tuner supporting pausing and other advanced features, I bet that would support the Best of XM channels. But I don't think that tuner is available yet and I am very skeptical of it's retrofitability (is that a word) to the MINI.

Upon further research, it looks like BMW added support for Best of XM sometime in mid 08. So that probably means that MINI could be a bit behind. The problem is the dealer has no idea, and Sirius has no idea. So depending on your year and your firmware version (not sure if it is updateable by the dealer) you maybe able to get it.

 

Make sure you receive the activation signal in the car by getting it outside in a wide open space with the sat radio playing.

Then go to your Sirius online account management and click on the "Resend Activation Signal" link. That should get the extra channels activated in your car if your tuner supports it. Good luck!