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DIRECTV HD Channel Anticipation (Official Q4-12 Thread)

160K views 807 replies 150 participants last post by  Mike Bertelson 
#1 ·
Please use this thread to discuss your feelings about upcoming national HD channels.

This thread will not be as tightly moderated as the rest of the site, but here's the tradeoff...in exchange for being able to rant a bit more, you can be assured that absolutely no one at DIRECTV will be using this thread for reference.

You can ask for all the new HD you want, but DIRECTV's marketing department knows that the 100-150 contributors to this thread are only a small part of the nearly 20,000,000 total subscribers.

*Please remember that all forum rules are still in effect.
*Please do not "bump" this thread.
*Other threads that do nothing but anticipate HD channels for which there is no information will be closed.
*This is not a DIRECTV vs. Dish thread, there are other threads for that.

If you have any questions as to what belongs in this thread or an individual channel thread please read the latest DIRECTV Programming Forum Rules (Link).
 
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#55 ·
Alan,

Great job on the list. I have two corrections and one comment for you on the following section:


SPANISH LANGUAGE CHANNELS THAT DIRECTV CURRENTLY OFFERS IN SD, BUT NOT HD (11):

A Toda Musica
Azteca America
Azteca Mexico
BeIN Sport Dos
ESPN Deportes
Fox Deportes
GolTV
Telemundo
TeleNoticias 24
Television Espanola
Univision Deportes Network

---Directv does not offer Univision Deportes Network. I believe its only offered by Dish, Fios and ATT.

---Galavision should be on this list. Its only offered in SD.

---Telemundo (National East and West) are not offered in HD by Directv but local Telemundo affiliates are offered in HD in some markets.

thanks
 
#57 ·
Well this is certainly interesting information...care of TVPredictions.com:

A top DIRECTV executive says the satcaster plans to offer all channels in High-Definition by 2016.

That's according to an article by advanced-television.com.

The web site says Philip J. Goswitz, DIRECTV's senior vice president for space and communications, told last month's Euroconsult conference that all standard-def channels would be converted to HDTV by 2016 using local-into-local Ka-Band capacity.

He added that with standard-def transmissions converted to high-def, it would free up 1 gigahertz of satellite spectrum for upcoming Ultra HD signals, now better known as 4K. Consequently, Goswitz predicted that DIRECTV would begin offering Ultra HD in four years.
 
#60 ·
"dpeters11" said:
Which would mean they'd have to swap out all the SD boxes for HD, like they do for MPEG4 markets now, right?

I can think of one or two users here that won't like that :)
I assume there are a lot of contract negotiations to do by then as we'll. According to Alan's list, it looks like right now there are over 50 channels to "upgrade" to HD. With I'm sure more to come by 2016. Of course they could simply drop some of those channels to accomplish the same thing. That's probably not as likely.

So does this mean they may start locking up the rights to show the HD version of all channels as they renegotiate contracts going forward? I would think they would need to in order to be in a position in 2016 to get where they want to be.

I'm very pleased with the potential possibilities.
 
#62 ·
They didn't say they would deliver the HD versions of all channels, only that all channels will be delivered VIA HD. They even mentioned "up-conversion" of SD. This is simply the long awaited phase out of duplicate HD/SD delivery. All the SD channels that have HD duplicates will be eliminated, and the remaining SD only channels (or channels for which the HD contract is yet to be signed) will be "upconverted" so they can be fed through the stat-mux devices along with HD channels. This would free up most of the Ku bandwidth on 101/110/119.
 
#63 ·
tulanejosh said:
The Nicks (the ones we currently don't have in HD)
I think the only Nick channel we don't currently have in HD is Nickelodeon West...

Carl Spock said:
I've got to agree with VH1 Classic although I don't think it is offered in HD.
To my knowledge, you are correct...

espnjason said:
  • Fox Movie Channel (when available in HD)
  • Telemundo DNS
Fox Movie Channel is already available in HD...
I do not believe that DNS rules apply to Telemundo...

espnjason said:
  • TVLand (don't know what is on HD in that channel)
As for TV Land, I don't know what is in HD on that channel either aside from their original scripted lineup (which continues to grow). A considerable amount of their programming is available in HD, but that doesn't mean they offer it that way...

~Alan
 
#64 ·
"Titan25" said:
They didn't say they would deliver the HD versions of all channels, only that all channels will be delivered VIA HD. They even mentioned "up-conversion" of SD. This is simply the long awaited phase out of duplicate HD/SD delivery. All the SD channels that have HD duplicates will be eliminated, and the remaining SD only channels (or channels for which the HD contract is yet to be signed) will be "upconverted" so they can be fed through the stat-mux devices along with HD channels. This would free up most of the Ku bandwidth on 101/110/119.
Well hopefully the unconverted SD will be a noticeable improvement if that's all we get.
 
#66 ·
kevintheoman said:
Also, I'd watch G4 if that was available.
It might become available again at some point.... if the re-branding is successful. But it won't be the G4 that you know. G4 was great in like 2005 or so.... when it was still a TV station for nerds and they still had all the TechTV stuff. It really went nothing but downhill from there.

In a few months they will rebrand the station to something that is "more polished", but has much less tech/game affiliation than it has now. They claim to have "some programming that stays true to its roots", but I am guessing they will just throw a lot of reality shows at it, and go the way of History Channel with Pawn Stars and Counting Cars. Not that those are bad shows, I enjoy them, but the channel really shouldn't be called "History Channel" any more.

In my opinion, there is TOO MUCH competition. There are three or four "pawn" shows, there are three or four "tow" shows, there are three or four "pickers" type shows, a variety of "cops" type shows, and they are full of completely scripted situations. Basically, one network thinks of a concept, and 2 or 3 other networks are going to do the exact same thing. Different city, different people, slightly altered format, but the same stuff.

It's what's popular right now, and I think G4 will probably go the same way.
 
#67 ·
Alan Gordon said:
I do not believe that DNS rules apply to Telemundo...
No they don't. You can get Telemundo on the Spanish package in SD. Our local Telemundo is in HD, but I would not be blacked out from the national SD feed if I got the Spanish package.

Wanting Telemundo E or W in HD is a good HD request though, I can see a demand for that as not every market has a local Telemundo affiliate.
 
#68 ·
dpeters11 said:
Which would mean they'd have to swap out all the SD boxes for HD, like they do for MPEG4 markets now, right?
No, it doesn't mean that at all. They have the plan to offer all channels (that have HD available) in HD by 2016. It does not mean they won't offer all channels in SD still, and it also does not mean people with older boxes are forced to upgrade.

DirecTV is launching 2 new satellites in 2014 and 2015 (and another one that hasn't been planned yet some time after that), so by 2016 they would have the capacity to offer all channels in HD (that are available in HD) and still maintain all the SD channels, even if they have to offload some capacity from older, due to be retired satellites on to the new ones.
 
#69 ·
maartena said:
Wanting Telemundo E or W in HD is a good HD request though, I can see a demand for that as not every market has a local Telemundo affiliate.
I helped a relative move to Columbus, OH just recently. There isn't a telemundo affiliate but the network feed is available on the spanish package in time warner cable and of course D* and E*. The same applies for Pittsburgh.
 
#70 ·
Alan Gordon said:
Does anyone else think it's weird that they're implying the KU signals will be used for 4K and the KA birds will be used for HD?
That CONUS HD is going to require at least two full slots is pretty much not up for debate. Since they've effectively abandoned 110W and 119W doesn't represent much bandwidth, I would imagine that they're going to move 119W to 101W and fill it out with other stuff (like 4K).

Ku would surely be better for reliability, but that's not the way DIRECTV has set themselves up. Ka does offer the major bonus of very tightly confined spot beams but I'm not entirely convinced that the recent upswing local channels is going to last very long. The overhead is likely low, but the ad revenues are not getting any easier to come by; somewhat reminiscent of the explosion of competing phone books in some areas.
 
#71 ·
maartena said:
It does not mean they won't offer all channels in SD still, and it also does not mean people with older boxes are forced to upgrade.
In view of the fact that most major cable systems are going to be all digital within a year or so, I would expect that there won't be much justification for not forcing the conversion to MPEG4. DIRECTV and DISH might drag it out for a while, but it really isn't in anyone's best interest to cling to MPEG2 or SD.
 
#72 ·
russinpa said:
---Directv does not offer Univision Deportes Network. I believe its only offered by Dish, Fios and ATT.
I changed it...

russinpa said:
---Galavision should be on this list. Its only offered in SD.
Already in the list, but a different location. Galavision is provided on 101° to all customers.

russinpa said:
---Telemundo (National East and West) are not offered in HD by Directv but local Telemundo affiliates are offered in HD in some markets.
Yeah... the stations listed are the national feeds in the 400s... I added a statement on that... may change my wording later.

~Alan
 
#73 ·
Titan25 said:
They didn't say they would deliver the HD versions of all channels, only that all channels will be delivered VIA HD. They even mentioned "up-conversion" of SD. This is simply the long awaited phase out of duplicate HD/SD delivery. All the SD channels that have HD duplicates will be eliminated, and the remaining SD only channels (or channels for which the HD contract is yet to be signed) will be "upconverted" so they can be fed through the stat-mux devices along with HD channels. This would free up most of the Ku bandwidth on 101/110/119.
I don't see it that way.

DirecTV could easily move the SD channels over to the KA birds and broadcast them in MPEG4 SD.

"Upconverting" already crappy PQ SD channels to "faux" HD would, IMHO, make the channels look worse than simply offering them in MPEG4 SD.

My prediction... if there's any truth to this statement, is that sometime in 2016... all channels that DirecTV currently offers in SD with an HD feed available will be offered in HD... providing DirecTV can come to an agreement with the respective companies. Those with SD-only feeds, or those DirecTV is unable to come to an agreement with, will be in MPEG4 SD.

~Alan
 
#74 ·
"hdtvfan0001" said:
Well this is certainly interesting information...care of TVPredictions.com:
Sounds like they figure to have more than enough bandwidth after the next sat launch, and till then its more of pick and choose. It also sounds like he's talking about converting everyone to mpeg4 equipment over the next four years or so. I see that beginning in a couple years as they try and move people to genies.

I'd guess they will not get everyone off mpeg2 by 2016, but will have moved enough markets to have a channel or two of 4k
 
#75 ·
"maartena" said:
No, it doesn't mean that at all. They have the plan to offer all channels (that have HD available) in HD by 2016. It does not mean they won't offer all channels in SD still, and it also does not mean people with older boxes are forced to upgrade.

DirecTV is launching 2 new satellites in 2014 and 2015 (and another one that hasn't been planned yet some time after that), so by 2016 they would have the capacity to offer all channels in HD (that are available in HD) and still maintain all the SD channels, even if they have to offload some capacity from older, due to be retired satellites on to the new ones.
Read that again, he specifically says talks about freeing up the bandwidth taken up by sd channels for use for 4k channels. I think the new stas are all about getting every markets lil and all other channels in Hi Definition so they can begin the conversion.
 
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