Who needs 800 HDTV channels?
July 3, 2007 – 11:53 am
Interesting article over at Ars Technica titled HD programming wars: Comcast says 800 HD channels by 2009
Basically, DIRECTV announced they would have 100 HD channels by the end of 2007 and Comcast announced that it will have over 800 HD channels by the end of 2008, with 400 by the end of 2007.
One channel devoted to showing episodes of CSI? Seems a bit much.
Movies playing in a loop taking up a channel? Seems like a wasted channel, although that has become standard practice and I’m sure the margins are more than enough to cover the costs.
Now, if someone could only come up with a dedicated Law & Order channel in HD, they’d have me sold.
Technorati Tags: TV, HDTV, high definition, HD
7 Responses to “Who needs 800 HDTV channels?”
There are more than 800 TV stations broadcasting in the United States alone. So it is safe to assume that some of these 800 would be the local channels for the viewer, some would be the cable channels we all know (CNN, CSPAN, HBO, …) and some might be the channels that come from major markets outside of the local viewer’s area. A lot of people would probably like to see local news from their hometown if they live in New York but came from Los Angeles. Besides there are going to be channels from outside the US possibly offered as well (as the satellite dish people already offer).
By Ken on Jul 3, 2007
If you remember some of our earlier discussions regarding control going to the user, you’ll realize the direction is away from linear channels and to a more “on-demand” environment. Basically, you’ll be able to watch anything you want, when you want to watch it. In that environment, the programming possibilities are limitless! Take a look at my post on 8/10/2006 called A World Without Channels. http://www.finitytech.com/2006/08/world-without-channels.html . As we see more user generated content, there will be more unique choices for everyone. Maybe not “better” choices, but certainly more unique.
By Andy Huckaba on Jul 3, 2007
Andy, I agree about true on-demand. The bandwidth is there, but I don’t think the cable or satellite vendors have everything lined up yet.
If I want to watch a movie, I want to watch it now, not wait 45 minutes for it to start over again.
But, in the same manner, I don’t want to wait 45 minutes for the content to download either.
One company that I’ve checked out recently is Joost. If Apple combines a service like this with AppleTV, I think they will be on to something.
Also, if AppleTV could insert ads into content that were relevant and personalized to the end user based on their iTunes profile, the advertising opportunities for TV would be back again. Similar to Tivo in regards to playback, only allowing content to be inserted on playback in real time vs. encoded into the content, more like in-game advertising.
Charging $2.00 to watch an episode from the night before might not be worth it when you could record it with a DVR. But, there may be more content available in HD that would not otherwise be available.
By Dustin Jacobsen on Jul 3, 2007