[Nick]

Coming HD Capacity Puts Pressure on Cable Competition

Here in Las Vegas, DIRECTV accomplished to ruffle some feathers among the pay-TV crowds... Everyone knows the company is launching two satellites later this year that will take its HD offering through the roof, but the company's plans for sports - namely NASCAR, gaming and a rumored deal on MLB - and the it's soon-to-be dominance with local and national HD channels, has the satcaster's land-locked competition feeling the heat.

DIRECTV said at CES this week it will soon be able to offer 150 national and 1500 local HD channels - an announcement that will force cable companies across the country to address their coming HD inferiority. And while the cable industry will not have the capacity to carry as much HD as DIRECTV, satellite folk can bet that cable interests will do everything they can - including bumping unpopular channels and multiple feeds of current premium channels.

"...high-def audience becoming
a beast that must be fed"

"Some subscribers may be upset at losing the multiple feeds, but with HDTV now in roughly 35 million homes, the high-def audience is becoming a beast that must be fed," said HDTV guru Phil Swann. "Some cable operators are now only offering around 10-15 HD channels and that just won't cut it later in the year when DIRECTV expands."

DIRECTV President and CEO Chase Carey told attendees at CES that the company has signed carriage deals and pending offers with about 60 national HDTV channels including the likes of CNN, USA and the Sci-Fi Channel. Failure to carry these popular channels "will tempt many cable high-def subscribers to switch to satellite," Swann said.

www.SkyReport.com - used with permission

 

[Cholly]

Customers are going to have a real problem on their hands -- in a home having no fewer than 7 TV's and two computers currently hooked to cable (one being an HDTV and two HDTV-ready sets, requiring STB's), satellite costs are out of sight. I would have willingly gone back to satellite from cable had it not been for the cost. After a lot of soul searching, I took advantage of TiVo's VIP upgrade offer and am now the proud owner of a TiVo Series 3 HDTV DVR, which has replaced a leased Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR from Time Warner. The upfront cost was brutal ($799 purchase), but I was able to transfer the lifetime subscription from an old unit to the Series 3 and the picture quality is superior to that of the 8300HD>
The Series 3 has two tuners and two cable card slots, enabling you to record one HD program while watching another. In addition to the cable input, it has an OTA antenna input, so if cable goes out, I can still watch HD locals. An added benefit is the fact that the OTA feeds are uncompressed, providing even better HD picture quality.