Cablevision Systems (CVC) announced that by the end of the year they will have the capacity to carry over 500 channels of high definition programming. Of course anybody watching the marketing efforts of the Satellite companies which boast that their images are four times better than cable, knows the stakes in this area are high.
The company also said another 15 new HD channels will be added to from Voom HD Networks beginning June 26. That will bring to 40 the number of HD programming services for Cablevision digital cable subscribers.
Voom is owned by Rainbow Media, a unit owned by Cablevision. It will provide such HD fare as Mosnters HD, Gameplay HD, HDNews and Kung Fu HD.
"Over the next few years, HD will move from a nice-to-have to must-have," said 
Craig Moffett, analyst at Bernstein Research.
Not to be outdone, No. 1 U.S. cable provider Comcast (CMCSA) says it will have about 400 HD choices by the end of 2007, and by the end of 2008, that will increase to 800. What Comcast said they mean by that is it will include regular HD linear channels plus HD video-on-demand also.
All of this only means that the companies will have the capacity to do this, not necessarily the programming to make it happen. Most of this is just marketing positioning and announcements to try to convince consumers that they're in the game and able to provide them with an enormous amount of channels.
Moffett added that today's cable plants could eventually be able to offer unlimited HD channels with such things as switched broadcast video. The reality is it will take time to even begin filling those channel slots with content, no matter who the content provider is.
Comment Preview