Sept 16th Directv should turn on the new bird..

[V. Barbarino]

That's the word around the camp fire..

DIRECTV: 20-40 New HD Channels Likely By Sept. 16

The satcaster should have 70 new HD channels by the end of September.

By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (August 29, 2007) -- DIRECTV told TVPredictions.com tonight that it will likely add from 20 to 40 new High-Definition channels by Sunday, September 16.

That date coincides with the 59th Annual Emmy Awards and DIRECTV has scheduled a post-awards party that night in Los Angeles to promote its new high-def lineup.

Asked tonight if the HDTV expansion will have taken place by the Emmy party, Eric Shanks, DIRECTV's executive vice president of entertainment, said "it will be real close" to that date.

DIRECTV launched a new satellite in July to expand its High-Definition capacity to 100 channels by year's end. (The satcaster plans to launch another satellite to increase the capacity to 150 HD channels next year.)

In an interview with TVPredictions.com, Shanks said DIRECTV will have added 70 new high-def channels by the end of the third quarter, which ends at the end of September. He said it will have the 100 HDTV channels by year's end.

Shanks added that DIRECTV will add a minimum of 20 new HD channels on the first day of the expansion.

"It will be more in the 40 range if all goes well," he said. "It's still fluid so we can't say for sure."

NFL NETWORK IN HD!!! WOOT!

[Guest ramon]

Here's the channel lineup supposed to hit your dish 9/16.

1. A&E

2. Animal Planet

3. Big Ten Network

4. CNN

5. Discovery

6. Food Network*

7. HGTV*

8. History Channel

9. MHD (MTV brand channel)

10. National Geographic

11. NFL Network

12. The Science Channel

13. TBS

14. TLC

15. Versus

16. Weather Channel

17. Cinemax-E

18. Cinemax-W

19. MoreMax

20. HBO-W

21. HBO2-E

22. HBO2-W

23. HBO Family-E

24. HBO Family-W

25. HBO Signature

26. The Movie Channel

27. SHO-W

28. STARZ-E

29. STARZ-W

30. STARZ-Edge

31. STARZ-Comedy

32. STARZ-Kids

Late Fall 2007

33. Bravo

34. Cartoon Network

35. Chiller

36. CNBC

37. FX

38. SciFi Channel

39. Sleuth

40. Speed

41. USA Network

[Guest pod]

Some of those are East and West so it doesn't really mean 40.

[Guest ramon]

Some of those are East and West so it doesn't really mean 40.

There's seriously not that much HD content out there.

They could've picked up WealthTV HD or Universal HD though

MHD is wicked though.

[Guest slamminshaun]

I just got my recording tonight from Direct TV asking me to press 1 if I have the converter in the back of my box.

[Guest pod]

Yeah, a lot of HD is upconverted, recycled crapola.

Does MHD actually play music videos? And if so, is it your typical tripe? Or worse, i.e. hipster content in HD?

[Guest ramon]

Yeah, a lot of HD is upconverted, recycled crapola.

Does MHD actually play music videos? And if so, is it your typical tripe? Or worse, i.e. hipster content in HD?

they do some music videos mostly live performances and concerts today for example they had a chuck berry special and red hot chilli peppers live in milan

www.mhd.tv for their programming.

vh1 hip hop honors in HD is fuckin-in-sane

[Guest pod]

Well, before long that will change. HD content right now tends to be more of a documentary or cinematic nature, since it's still largely a niche market, surging sales to the contrary. Before long, they'll switch MHD to normal MTV, and we'll see the glory of Road Rules, The Hills, and the occasional hip-hop video and bullshit faux-rock a la The Killers in HD.

Though increasing bandwidth both terrestrial and satellite based could render my complaints moot (hopefully) since everything will be easily accessible in HD.