[Earl Bonovich]

DIRECTV to Offer More Than 40 HDTV Channels in Mid-2007

New York, NY (November 29, 2006) -- DIRECTV will offer more than 40 High-Definition TV channels by next summer, according to David Hill, the satcaster's entertainment president.

.....

Read the rest of the story at: TVPredictions.com

 

[TheMoose]

They didn't mention which channels would be in HD, any ideas on that?

 

[cookpr]

Any way to paste this article in the thread...my work server blocks TV Predictions...

 

[TheMoose]

Any way to paste this article in the thread...my work server blocks TV Predictions...

Here ya go,

Mod Edit: Deleted contents of article, and sent them via PM to cookpr. see note below

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Any way to paste this article in the thread...my work server blocks TV Predictions...

We try not to do that... because of "fair use" and copywrite.

Sorry guys... just have to protect the forum.

 

[TheMoose]

We try not to do that... because of "fair use" and copywrite.

Sorry guys... just have to protect the forum.

Sorry about that, but I did add the copyright at the bottom.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Sorry about that, but I did add the copyright at the bottom.

Yes you did..... and thank you for that.
It is just one of our users got into some hot water, somewhere else...

So we have just tried to adopt the "partial" article, with link to the source... style to avoid any issues.

 

[litzdog911]

Nothing really new here. We know that DirecTV will have lots more HD capacity when the new satellites go live in 2007. I guess now we know that will happen sometime in "mid 2007".

 

[juan ellitinez]

What happened to 150 channel promise?

 

[Earl Bonovich]

What happened to 150 channel promise?

Capacity for 150 channels...

There won't even be 150 HD channels in existance by the end of 2007

 

[bobnielsen]

150 is the capability, but you still need content. 40 is the more likely "actual", which probably includes a number of PPV channels. There probably aren't more than 20-25 available HD channels right now.

 

[profmrw]

They will probably include your LOCAL HD channels and PPV in the mix of this number... It is pretty sad they haven't increase National HD Channels. I know bandwidth is the issue, but the cable companies are leading in this area.

 

[noneroy]

They will probably include your LOCAL HD channels and PPV in the mix of this number... It is pretty sad they haven't increase National HD Channels. I know bandwidth is the issue, but the cable companies are leading in this area.

Leading for now. I think cable is going to hit a much harder ceiling than D* when it comes to bandwidth issues. My local CO just added Espn2 and MTV HD, and they had to compress the heck out of a few channels to make it work. So D* isn't the only place dealing with HD Lite. Cable leads for now, but I don't think any cable CO will have room for 150 channels (if D* keeps it's promise).

 

[letsjet]

Is there a plan not to charge extra for HD? It would seem HD should be the std. pretty soon, no?

 

[O2BRich]

Is there a plan not to charge extra for HD? It would seem HD should be the std. pretty soon, no?

I totally agree with that.
It blew me away that I have to pay extra for the HD version of channels I already pay for. :eek2:

 

[islesfan]

150 is the capability, but you still need content. 40 is the more likely "actual", which probably includes a number of PPV channels. There probably aren't more than 20-25 available HD channels right now.

Any chance that new HD capacity might be used to carry more NHL Center Ice (or NBA or MLB) in HD like they already do for football?

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Any chance that new HD capacity might be used to carry more NHL Center Ice (or NBA or MLB) in HD like they already do for football?

Sure, it is possible.

But MLB, NHL, NBA, and all the others... would have to setup the "package" to include HD option in it. DirecTV only can "resell" what is there to sell.

 

[ClubSteeler]

Leading for now. I think cable is going to hit a much harder ceiling than D* when it comes to bandwidth issues. My local CO just added Espn2 and MTV HD, and they had to compress the heck out of a few channels to make it work. So D* isn't the only place dealing with HD Lite. Cable leads for now, but I don't think any cable CO will have room for 150 channels (if D* keeps it's promise).

Cable could add 150 HD channels, but it would have to eliminate its entire analog tier. The analog tier takes up 2/3 of cable's bandwidth. Unfortunately, a MAJOR segment of cable subscribers (I think about 40% for my cable company) are only analog subscribers.

Should cable alienate all of these people? I don't think they will.

My cable has been superior in every way to DirecTV. But now, I am starting to see over compression just like on D*. Things are getting worse. They must be making room for new HD channels.

It's really unfortunate. You take these beautiful digital channels and compress the hell out of them.

I swear, in my room with the shortest coax run, my analog picture beats both D* and Digital Cable, hands down, no contest.

What good is "crystal clear" digital TV when so compressed?

DirecTV is putting up more sats. That's why in the long run, I think they will win the battle.

Cable can't do that.

Cable is going to switched digital, which could likely free up enough space for maybe 20 HD channels. So they'll be alright for a while, but after that, they'll either have to start removing analog channels which will anger many, or start over compressing HD channels into HD-Lite and that will upset......... ME!!!!

 

[Guest]

We try not to do that... because of "fair use" and copywrite.

Do you mean "copyright"?

 

[ckelly5]

My Hope is that they do the following:

everything national missing so far that cable has (FOOD, HGTV, INHD, MHD, Golf/ VS)
VOOM
All RSNs in HD on the national sats for HD sports packages

a few surprises (new FOXHD channels, bump up the quality, free to subs/ included in HD package cost)

I'd love to see them flip a switch one day and BOOM, 40 new channels show up overnight. That would be a killer statement, and make them the undisputed leader, literally, overnight.