DIRECTV Wakes Up On HDTV

[Gregg Lengling]

The satellite TV service announces its first major High-Definition TV offering in more than a year.

Plus, the company says more HDTV is coming.By Phillip SwannWashington, D.C. (July 22) -- DIRECTV is back in the HDTV game. Or, so it says.DIRECTV announced this week that it will provide as many as 100 National Football League games inHigh-Definition TV this Fall. The broadcasts will require a subscription to the service's "NFL SundayTicket" package, which costs around $200. However, the offering will be DIRECTV's first major HDTVinitiative in more than a year. In July 2003, DIRECTV added a monthly package of four high-defchannels (plus high-def versions of HBO and Showtime for subscribers to those channels.)

The announcement is long overdue. DIRECTV, which once was a leader in providing HDTVprogramming, has fallen behind the cable TV industry at a critical time. HDTV sales have steadilyclimbed over the last year, with nearly 10 million homes now owning high-def sets. (However, onlyabout two million have the HDTV tuners required to receive high-def signals.) Plus, studies show thatmillions of Americans are considering buying a new HDTV.However, Comcast and other cable operators now offer up to 15 HDTV channels in many markets,including high-def feeds of local channels. DIRECTV has been stuck on seven HDTV channels (thepackage of six channels plus a HDTV PPV channel) for a year. Consequently, most industry

observers agree that cable is now the best option for a new HDTV buyer if both services areavailable in his/her market. (EchoStar, the second leading dish operator, also offers fewer HDTVchannels than cable in many markets.)In making this week's announcement, DIRECTV seemed to acknowledge that it needs to play somecatch-up. Stephanie Campbell, DIRECTV's executive vice president of programming, promised thatthe company will add more high-def channels in the near future."I think it's the beginning of the escalation of HD channels and the importance that the sports worldplaces on it in particular," said Campbell. "There's more people with high-def sets than ever before.

You're starting to see that take off, and there's no place better than in sports, and the NFL, to loadup with it, so to speak."Campbell discounted reports that DIRECTV does not have the satellite capacity to provide as manyHDTV channels as a cable operator. The bandwidth required to deliver a high-def channel can be asmuch as four times greater than a regular network. However, DIRECTV launched a new satellite lastspring that could help the satcaster deliver more HDTV."We've been saying for a long time that when we weren't capacity-constrained, people were going tosee a rollout of HD, and I think you can say that this is the first step in that direction," she said.

With this week's announcement, DIRECTV has certainly gotten the attention of the HDTV buyingaudience, particularly sports fans. However, by sitting on the sidelines for the past year, the satelliteTV service is up against the clock. As HDTV sales rise -- and cable TV rolls out new high-defchannels -- DIRECTV must soon fulfill its promise of delivering more HDTV programming. If it fails, itrisks losing the growing high-def audience to the cable TV industry. Forever.Phillip Swann is President and Publisher of TVPredictions.com. If you would like to contactMr. Swann, he can be reached at 703-505-3064 or at mailto:Swann@TVPredictions.com">Swann@TVPredictions.com