[Newshawk]

DIRECTV has added HD Local service in Grand Rapids, MI; Green Bay, WI and Providence, RI.

DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading satellite television
service provider, is now offering local HD programming to
customers in the Grand Rapids DMA. The following local
broadcast networks are available in HD: WZZM/ABC and
WWMT/CBS. DIRECTV is in discussions with the owners of the
FOX (WXMI) and NBC (WOOD) affiliates and hopes to add these
stations to the lineup in the near future. With the addition
of Grand Rapids, DIRECTV now offers local HD broadcast
channels in 49 cities, representing more than 65 percent of
U.S. TV households. DIRECTV plans to launch an additional
eight HD local markets throughout the remainder of the year.

DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading satellite television
service provider, is now offering local HD programming to
customers in the Green Bay DMA. The following local broadcast
networks are available in HD: WBAY/ABC, WFRV/CBS and
WGBA/NBC. DIRECTV is in discussions with the owners of the
FOX affiliate (WLUK), and hopes to add this station to the
DIRECTV lineup in the near future. With the addition of Green
Bay, DIRECTV now offers local HD broadcast channels in 49
cities, representing more than 65 percent of U.S. TV
households. DIRECTV plans to launch an additional eight HD
local markets throughout the remainder of the year.

DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading satellite television service
provider, is now offering local HD programming to customers in
the Providence DMA. The following local broadcast networks are
available in HD: WLNE/ABC and WJAR/NBC. DIRECTV is in
discussions with the owners of the FOX (WNAC) and CBS (WPRI)
affiliates and hopes to add these stations to the lineup in the
near future. With the addition of Providence, DIRECTV now offers
local HD broadcast channels in 49 cities, representing more than
65 percent of U.S. TV households. DIRECTV plans to launch an
additional eight HD local markets throughout the remainder of
the year.

For more information, go here: http://home.businesswire.com/ (Registration required.)

That makes four added today, and 49 total.

 

[crockett]

Blow me over. We weren't even on the websites list.

Still only 2 of 4 big networks and now D* officially has HD in my DMA Not. But I'm keeping a positive attitude and glad the start of the moment has finally arrived.

Add the other two networks, dual live buffers and eliminate the occasional partial and/or cancel bugs and I'm in TV heaven.

 

[Malibu13]

Passed up again.

 

[mikhu]

WOAH!!!! I gotta call and get my AT-9/Slimline installed NOW!!!

 

[mikhu]

Fox/WLUK may take a while judging by conversations on this board. They are owned by Lin.

 

[mikhu]

Sweet. The installer is going to be at my house Saturday morning to install the new dish!

 

[Earl Bonovich]

So Mike.... are you happy at all about this news?

 

[mikhu]

Who me?

So, has LIN TV agreed with D* for any of their stations or is it hopeless?

 

[Drea Bruss]

I'm going with just a little.

I'll try not to shown the same level of enthusiasm, but this is the next best thing to then turning on the OTA tunners for me anyway. I can now move some of the programing duties from my HR10 to my HR20.

Drea

 

[mikhu]

Where the #$%& is Oshkosh?

Yes, OTA is the real desire, but this helps for now. If our local MPEG4 quality even remotely resembles OTA quality then this will be nice for saving space on the hard drive as well.

I mostly want the new dish for the rumored less rain-fade problems.

 

[kevc66]

Anyone have news on HD locals for Harrisburg,PA..

 

[mikhu]

Interesting. Just had an email exchange with the station director at WLUK. He said he knew nothing about the HD feeds getting turned on for all the stations other than theirs, and he sounded fairly upset that theirs wasn't part of the deal. Maybe a push from the tv stations will help LIN settle up with D*?

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Interesting. Just had an email exchange with the station director at WLUK. He said he knew nothing about the HD feeds getting turned on for all the stations other than theirs, and he sounded fairly upset that theirs wasn't part of the deal. Maybe a push from the tv stations will help LIN settle up with D*?

What is WLUK an affiliate for?

 

[mikhu]

What is WLUK an affiliate for?

Fox, so yes, I STILL cannot record NFC games in HD.

 

[RAD]

Interesting. Just had an email exchange with the station director at WLUK. He said he knew nothing about the HD feeds getting turned on for all the stations other than theirs, and he sounded fairly upset that theirs wasn't part of the deal. Maybe a push from the tv stations will help LIN settle up with D*?

Sounds similar to what the local staff at KXAN (another LIN station) when someone asked them why they weren't on D*'s HD channels, he was going to call corporate. Of course D* still doesn't have them. I'd be curious to know what the hold up is, does LIN want more $'s then D*'s willing to part with or do they want subchannels carried?

 

[mikhu]

Sounds similar to what the local staff at KXAN (another LIN station) when someone asked them why they weren't on D*'s HD channels, he was going to call corporate. Of course D* still doesn't have them. I'd be curious to know what the hold up is, does LIN want more $'s then D*'s willing to part with or do they want subchannels carried?

That's not an issue for us anyway. WLUK is our only LIN-owned station and it only has the SD and HD channels, no subs. Good thought though. I'm guessing it has everything to do with money, doesn't it always?

 

[Capmeister]

When my area gets HD LiLs, will I just notice them since I get my SD locals and have an AT9 and an HR20-700? (My DMA is supposed to be out before the end of the year, so I expect it sometime in Feb. )

 

[RAD]

When my area gets HD LiLs, will I just notice them since I get my SD locals and have an AT9 and an HR20-700? (My DMA is supposed to be out before the end of the year, so I expect it sometime in Feb. )

Yep, they'll just show up, you have to do nothing.

 

[RAD]

For the heck of it I e-mailed out local LIN station asking what the hold up is, their response:

"Our parent company, LIN Television, strongly believes that subscriber fees paid to broadcasters by cable/sat providers are important to our long-term survival. Cable/sat providers currently pay those fees to all program providers except local broadcasters. LIN is committed to withholding authorization to carry the HD signals until agreements can be reached with these entities. "

So it's the all might $ that's the hold up (like we really expected something else).

 

[Earl Bonovich]

So is DirecTV currently paying them for the right to carry their SD signal (which by law DirecTV is required to carry, and cover all the expenses of getting the signal from the affiliate to the customer)...

Why should it be any different for the HD?

IIRC... I thought revenue on the Affiliate level was driven by advertisers, which is driven by the number of people who can receive signal....

Ah well....good luck with that...