In a random survey of HD Report readers we found that almost eighty percent of poll-takers would order an HD-only service plan if one was offered. So why aren’t the service providers offering this? It seems like a reasonable request to order only the channel formats which fit your 16:9 HDTV. Full Story
After discussing it for over six months DirecTV and Comcast finally came to an agreement to get Versus back on the satellite’s lineup. DirecTV says Comcast wanted more money for the Versus feed, and Comcast argued DirecTV wanted to cut the channel’s potential audience almost in half from 14 million households. Meanwhile, hockey fans with DirecTV were unable to watch the NHL on Versus. Full Story
CNN’s new Atlanta HD broadcast facility will enable the network to go all high-definition starting in late Spring 2010, reports Multichannel. Daytime shows produced in Atlanta like CNN Newsroom will now be in hi-def. CNN also has HD equipped studios in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and their first hi-def facility in New York. In the U.S., CNN will make use of its 20 HD production trucks and 100+ photojournalists to provide content for the network. Standard-def feeds will still come from international content providers who haven’t made the switch yet.
Cox Communications will start rolling out Epix HD and on-demand channel “Vutopia” to its markets on April 1. Epix HD is a premium movie channel from Viacom Inc., Paramount Pictures, MGM and Lionsgate. The channel is normally offered for $9.99 per month. Full Story
Time Warner Cable will no longer market their HD services as “free” according to a company statement which followed a Better Business Bureaus recommendation. Multichannel reported yesterday The National Advertising Division found TMC had been using the term “free” for about two years when the price of HD service had actually become embedded in the price of its regular service. Therefore, it shouldn’t be called free. Full Story
If you are a Comcast subscriber in the San Francisco Bay Area you’ll now be able to get Hallmark Channel HD and HSN HD. With the Digital Starter HD service you’ll get Hallmark Channel HD on Channel 793, and with the Limited Basic HD service you’ll get HSN HD on Channel 718. (Do they sound like the same service to you too?) Subscribers in Half Moon Bay, Isleton, Mendocino and Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley, sadly, are out-of-luck. Full Story
Cox Communications has added five HD channels and one Music Choice channel to its lineup in the Hampton Roads area. Also included in the additions are two On Demand channels including the Filipino Channel and Shalom TV. Cox says it now offers 72 HD channels in total to its customers. Full Story
FiOS TV customers in all markets will now get MSNBC HD, which includes subscribers in the New York metropolitan areas. It took a while for this to finally happen, as Cablevision controlled distribution of the channel in its New York, New Jersey and Connecticut market areas. But a filing from Verizon to the FCC lead to a termination of the exclusive carriage rights. And, the addition comes at a perfect time for FiOS subscribers as the Winter Olympics start on Feb. 12 and NBC Universal plans to cover the games across its many divisions, one of which is MSNBC. Full Story
Dish Network has added 9 new HD channels to its national lineup, including Fox Soccer Channel HD which launched today (Feb. 11) exclusively to Dish customers. The new channel can be found on Dish 149 if you have Dish’s America’s Top 250 package. Full Story
V Network (V HD) has been added to the Shaw Direct lineup in Canada, where the cable provider offers French programming in both standard and high definition. The addition will allow Shaw Direct to provide more coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, as well as movies and live events. Full Story
If you subscribe to Charter Communications you’ll soon be able to get Epix HD, a premium movie channel launched in Oct. ‘09 by Viacom Inc., its Paramount Pictures unit, MGM and Lionsgate. Epix is currently running films like Star Trek, GI Joe, and Paranormal Activity, as well as comedy and concert programming. Full Story
Parts of Connecticut are now getting MSNBC and MSNBC HD through AT&T’s U-verse service. The standard-definition version can be found on channel 215 (as part of the U100 package), and the high-definition version on channel 1215. Full Story
Comcast has added 36 HD channels for customers in Pittsburgh, PA, according to TVPredictions.com. The new high-definition channels include Travel Channel HD, Comedy Central HD, Nickelodeon HD and Weather Channel HD. Full Story
Cablevision subscribers in the New York Tri-State region will be happy to hear Food Network and HGTV are back online, as the cable provider and Scripps Networks Interactive came to a financial agreement today. Full Story
Epix signed its third distribution deal with Mediacom this week, and will begin service in April, 2010. The joint-venture between Viacom, MGM and Lionsgate which offers a premium lineup of movies also signed a deal with Cox Communications this week. Full Story
Cox is expected to add some HD channels the second week of February, as well as some additional On Demand content for customers in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. Among the additions are MSNBC HD, MoreMax HD (Cinemax), TMC HD (The Movie Channel), Cox HD, and Comcast Sports HD. Below is a list of the channels to launch on 2/10/10. Thanks to Philip for the tip. Full Story
At midnight on Dec. 31, both Food Network and HGTV (owned by Scripps Networks) were dropped from Cablevision’s lineups, a result of both companies failing to come to a carriage agreement. Scripps says its channels are among the most watched, and yet paid among the lowest rates in the industry. Full Story
DirecTV officially announced a successful launch of their new satellite, DIRECTV 12, which the company says will allow them to offer 200 HD channels to subscribers. Although this would put them way ahead of competitors, they have not announced any of the channels they would offer. Full Story
Cox Communications has added 13 more high-definition channels to its lineup in Northern Virginia (NOVA) market. The cable provider now hosts 78 HD channels in the area, and the new additions include such networks as MSNBC HD, TMC HD, Disney HD and BBC America HD. Full Story
Subscribers to AT&T’s U-verse TV service got an additional 5 HD channels today, bringing the number of high-definition channels from the service to at least 115 in every U.S. market. New international channels were also added to U-verse, including Filipino and Cantonese programming. Full Story
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