A look at DirecTV's HDTV offerings

by Dina Gerdeman

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Television viewers often seek out DirecTV specifically for the wealth of channels the company provides in high definition or HDTV.

Today DirecTV offers 130 national television channels in high definition, and the company continues to roll out local HD channels in a number of markets. DirecTV currently provides local HD channels in a total of 115 markets that represent 87 percent of all households in the United States with television sets, said DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer.

Sports always has been and continues to be one of the biggest drivers of high definition as customers get hooked on watching games in HD for the detail and clarity. DirecTV always sees an uptick in customers asking for HD access before the Super Bowl, Mercer said. DirecTV currently offers a variety of sports packages with games in high definition, including NFL Sunday Ticket, NCAA Mega March Madness and NASCAR Hotpass.

"Sports and HD were meant for each other. Once viewers see a football game in HD at a friend's house, they go back and look at the game on an analog TV and they feel like they're looking at static," Mercer said. "HD is so much better; the difference is dramatic."

In addition to sports, many DirecTV customers seek out HD channels to watch movies, concerts or even their favorite late-night crime shows. More than half of the company's customers have packages with advanced services, which often include HD, Mercer said.

DirecTV has been a leader in providing high definition programs, Mercer said, offering one of the first HD signals in the late 1990s. "We recognized that HD was going to drive the pay TV business," Mercer said. "We got in on the ground foor."

The company invested an initial $1 billion to launch satellites and prepare the ground infrastructure to handle HD programming, and in the last two years the company has ramped up its HD offerings.

In 2007, DirecTV launched the bulk of its HD services, ending the year with about 90 national channels. In 2008, the company increased that number to more than 130, and with the launch of a new satellite in 2009, DirecTV will have the capacity to offer 200 national channels in high definition as well as 1,500 local HD and digital channels.

DirecTV, which offers HD access for $9.99 per month, is transmitting its HD programming in the MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding standard. All HD programming is also available in the Dolby Digital audio format, and DirecTV is beginning to offer movies in 1080p, a high resolution format and the same format used by Blu-Ray HD DVDs.

• A listing of DirecTV's HD channels