Commentary
Is DIRECTV Missing the Big Picture?
The satcaster's new HDTV music channel is not a sight for sore eyes.
By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (January 23, 2006) -- DIRECTV on Saturday launched a high-def version of its new original music channel, CD USA. The network features concert performances and interviews with musicians such as Ashlee Simpson. However, as a high-def owner, I can't quite sing its praises.

CD USA's HD picture is soft, offering very little detail. The colors are bright and vivid, but the dull picture makes you wonder why you spent so much money on a high-def set. It's just a small improvement from the images you might see on a superior digital (but non-HD) channel, such as CNN.

In the past, DIRECTV has frequently squeezed the compression on its signal so it can add more channels -- and I suspect that it's doing it again for the high-def CD USA. (DIRECTV needs to compress the signal because it has little room left on its current MPEG2 satellites. Sorry for the tech talk, lay folks.) However, when it squeezes the signal to add channel space, the picture quality suffers.

DIRECTV may rationalize the decision because it can now claim it has a new HDTV channel. But, folks, this isn't real HD. I would rather see DIRECTV broadcast fewer channels in real high-def rather than try to fool people into thinking they are watching high-def.

DIRECTV this year is scheduled to upgrade its signal from MPEG2 to MPEG4, which is supposed to permit channel expansion without picture degradation. But we'll see, won't we? Despite the satcaster's launch of four new satellites to provide more local and national HD, it's uncertain to me if the entire DIRECTV management team supports real HD. In fact, David Hill, DIRECTV's entertainment president, the man behind the new CD USA channel, once said this of HDTV:

"I can't understand the excitement about it. It just lengthens and broadens the picture, makes it sharper but doesn't change it."


Mr. Hill (pictured) probably thinks that CD USA's high-def picture looks pretty good today. But I don't.

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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 Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com or at 703-505-3064.

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