With the launch of a new satellite last March, many high-def fans were expected more channels, especially such in-demand networks as AMC HD, WGN HD and Fox News HD
Well, I would advise DIRECTV subscribers to just relax. The satcaster will add more HD channels in 2008 -- and sooner than later. Consider yesterday just an appetizer.
However, one thing that was disturbing about DIRECTV's announcement yesterday was that the satcaster claimed it now has 130 HD channels. Before yesterday's launch, DIRECTV said it offered 95 high-def channels.
Looks like DIRECTV has been cooking up a storm.
So, how did it go from 95 to 130 with the addition of just four high-def networks?
The satcaster also converted nine regional sports networks to full-time (24/7) channels and it added 18 PPV HD channels. By DIRECTV's estimation, that brings it to 130.
Even if you count the nine sports channels, the 18 PPV channels and the four high-def networks, that would seem to leave it a few short of 130. But let's give DIRECTV the benefit of the doubt and say its count is correct.
However, here's the real problem:
PPV channels are not channels. If you tune to DIRECTV's channel 144, let's say, to watch The Ruins on PPV HD today, it might not even be on. The satcaster's PPV movies start from 30 minutes to every two hours so if you don't tune in at just the right time, you can't watch the movie. The on-screen message says the movie is not available.
How can that be called a channel? It's not even a "choice" unless you tune in at the right time.
However, DIRECTV now refers to more than 30 different PPV HD slots as 'channels" so it can claim it has 130 HD channels.
Not without coincidence, DIRECTV did this just a week after Verizon's FiOS and Dish Network announced that they now have 100 HD channels. In the ever escalating race to be considered 'The HD Leader,' DIRECTV has cooked the numbers so it can say it has the most high-def channels.
Oddly, DIRECTV has sharply criticized cable TV operators who have said they have more 'HD choices" than satellite because they offer more HD movies and TV shows in their Video on Demand lineups. Cable uses the 'choices' ploy because it has fewer actual channels than satellite.
However, the satcaster has now borrowed from cable's playbook and has begun calling PPV movies "channels" so it can say it has more HD channels than Verizon and Dish Network. (I realize that other TV providers pad their numbers, too, but DIRECTV has been the most vocal about calling out cable on their description of 'HD Choices" as channels.)
But whether it's cable or satellite, 'choices' are not channels.
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Phillip Swann is president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com
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