The Race Is On

This is sure to be an exciting few months for fans of high-definition television.

Cable and satellite TV companies in the Tampa Bay area are about to add swaths of new HD channels, each angling to provide a better lineup than their rivals.

The first onslaught comes in early October, when Verizon expects to boost its HD lineup from 33 HD channels to 52 - depending on the final count and some last-minute negotiations. That will more than match many of the HD lineups of cable TV provider Bright House Networks and the two major satellite TV systems, Dish Network and DirecTV.

After that round, Verizon plans to add more and have "all major available HD programming by year end," said Sharon Shaffer, spokeswoman for Verizon.

With three of the four big TV providers offering 70 HD channels in the Tampa Bay area, "it will be great for those that have an HD television set. It will be just like getting cable all over again," said Bryan Schneider, who follows the local HD market for TampaHDTV.com, which posts news specifically about high definition services in Tampa Bay.

Cable and satellite providers are investing millions on new equipment and programming to cash in on the growing demand customers have for all things high-definition. In the Tampa market, 22.3 percent of households own an HDTV and subscribe to HD service, up from 15.6 percent in November 2007, the first period measured by Nielsen Media Research.

Verizon's move is interesting, Schneider said, because it will give Verizon at least a temporary leg up on rival Bright House Networks, which has about 40 HD channels.

According to a preliminary list of new channels, Verizon will add Big Ten HD, the NFL Network HD and others not yet on Bright House. Additions like those are important marketing angles for high-definition providers because they generally carry the same standard definition channels, making their competition mainly about price and customer service.

And that's where Schneider notes the channel-counting game can turn into a headache for customers because the channel lineups among providers depend on how you define "channel."

DirecTV, for example, offers more than 130 HD channels. But many of those are duplicate sports channels with several different versions broadcast to the East and West Coast, Southeast and Northeast. That matters because a sports event on one coast might be blocked for those living elsewhere.

Add to that math the question of which channels providers decide to put in what price tiers, and customers can have a tough shopping choice.

Schneider said Verizon needed the HD upgrade because rivals DirecTV and Dish Network have had an advantage for about a year, with about 60 and 70 more HD channels respectively.

For Verizon, the new channels plug some gaps that would have been glaring omissions this fall. For example, Verizon will add TBS-HD by early October. That matters because TBS has the rights to show many Major League Baseball playoff games in HD, including games where the Tampa Bay Rays could play.

Another new channel on Verizon is ESPNU, a college sports channel with live events Thursday and Saturday, such as football, basketball, lacrosse, baseball, softball and other sports.

Meanwhile, satellite companies will offer more as well.

Dish Network will have 150 HD channels by the end of the year, up from about 100. DirecTV officials say they have the capacity to deliver 200 national HD channels by the end of 2009, up from about 130.

Not to be outdone, Bright House will launch enough new HD channels to top 100 by mid-2009, said spokesman Joe Durkin. Those additions will come gradually. Recently, it added CNN HD, Disney HD and ABC Family HD.

Bright House also will use some of its lineup to add standard definition channels, including a half-dozen new Spanish-language channels, such as WAPA America.

For its part, Bright House is more choosy with which HD channels it adds, Durkin said.

"We're focused on the entire scope of home entertainment and communications. We're not going to add HD channels just to add them," he said.

CHANNELS

100

BY MID-2009

150

CHANNELS

CHANNELS

IN 2008