With DISH Network recently announcing they will add 17 new HD channels on August 1st, the question now is, will they beat DIRECTV to the “magical” 100 HD channel mark?
If DIRECTV stands pat until the end of the month, then that will be the case. DIRECTV made a big deal in 2007 that they would have 100 HD channels by the end of the year. They came up a bit short, ending up at 92. So far in 2008, they have only added three more national HD channels, so they now stand at 95.
If DISH Network does reach 100 first, it would be a quite a reversal of fortune on the HD battlefield. Both companies often fudge their HD channel counts by including pay-per-view channels as well as regional sports networks that are not always available nationwide. Yet 100 is still 100, and would do wonders for DISH Network’s reputation publicly. CEO Charlie Ergen has admitted during investor conference calls that DIRECTV has executed while DISH Network fell behind in late 2007 and on into 2008.
In case you missed the DISH Network announcement, here are the new HD channels that will be added on the 1st of August:
ActionMax HD
CBS College Sports HD
Lifetime HD
Lifetime Movie Network HD
Planet Green HD
Encore HD
HBO 2 HD
HBO Comedy HD
HBO Family HD
HBO Latino HD
HBO Signature HD
HBO West HD
HBO Zone HD
Starz Comedy HD
Starz Edge HD
Starz Kids & Family HD
Starz West HD
Again this list won’t bring much if anything to the DISH Network subscriber who doesn’t subscribe to the movie packages where all of these HD channels are being added.
Speculation is that DIRECTV is out of capacity as far as adding any more HD until their recently launched satellite DIRECTV 11 is operational in September. The only question now is whether DIRECTV will do something, anything to get 5 more HD channels added to their lineup before DISH Network adds theirs on August 1st.
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This is great for Dish Network. This should really push DirecTV to start pushing out more hd channels to keep up with the high demand for them. I really wish every single channel was in hd, but that is not going to happen anytime soon.