"I don’t think having 100 channels or 70 channels is as important as having good quality stuff that people watch," Ergen told analysts during an investors conference call.
He added: "There’s not 100 channels of HD that I would watch...there’s probably only 30 or 40 channels of HDTV that are worthy of watching and it’s up to the programmers to come up with new and exciting things to make HD a little bit better."
DIRECTV yesterday disclosed that it will offer 70 HDTV channels by the end of September and 100 by year's end.
Ergen conceded that 100 HD channels "is a good round number to get people excited.” But he added that it's not important for a TV provider to have a certain number.
Ergen noted that EchoStar already offers roughly 40 national HD channels, regional sports channels in HD and local high-def channels in many markets.
EchoStar is scheduled to launch two new satellites next year to expand its high-def capacity.
In other high-def issues, Ergen said satellite offers a better HD picture than cable, a point of great contention by the cable operators.
"I think that satellite delivers a better -- despite all the feuds and lawsuits that are going on out there -- I’m very convinced that satellite brings the best video quality for HDTV and gives you the most choice and most selection," Ergen told the analysts.
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