HD channels crowding the TV dial

[scrooloose]

A television channel named after the French word for planet has learned a tough lesson about how the HDTV universe is unfolding.

The documentary channel Planete was dropped by one of Canada's largest satellite carriers, Bell ExpressVu LP, in part to make room for the continuing addition of high definition services.

-Mike

[scrooloose]

Not to pick on the French channels, but I do think this is the right direction. Find the under performing channels and turf them! The television industry will be better for it because it will result in better quality programming on fewer channels. The 500 channel universe is largely wasted with endless repeats and duplicate programming.

-Mike

[TJ77]

I absolutely agree. Atleast half of the diginets launched in 2001 need to go. Satellite space is too valuable to be wasted on repeats of Dawson's Creek.
I like how ExpressVu says 8 sd channels can fit on a transponder when they have 10-12.

[hugh]

Interesting that a Bell Globemedia paper said Bev has 50 HD but Rogers has 42 despite facts to the contrary!

[Jake]

If it's got low viewership and people aren't watching it, then it doesn't make sense for us to pay to offer it

Makes perfect sense to me. And no exceptions either.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Jake

Makes perfect sense to me. And no exceptions either.

Not at all. With a capacity of, say, 500 channels, there is a lot of scope for channels which have limited appeal. It's a matter of finding a balance between channels people watch (like National Geographic HD) and those which appeal to a tiny niche (like Treasure HD). You can aford to have some low rated channels if they meet specific needs.

But, again, it's a balance. The no exceptions strategy doesn't address the diverse needs of the viewers in aggregate.

[Jake]

You can aford to have some low rated channels if they meet specific needs.

It should be the business deciding this right? That's my point. But more on the topic I see lots of wasted HD bandwidth on the dial. It really is a shame that bandwidth for some channels get gobbled up by upconverted material.

[PlayitSimple]

Very Interesting!

I wonder if other providers will follow Bell's lead and drop services in favour of HD channels?! Of course most of the 'HD channels' currently out there have very little HD content and are repeats of the SD channel programming. The only 'real' HD channels are the 4 from HifiHDTV and Discovery HD Theatre.

How come they didn't drop any English diignets, I am sure most of them have very low viewership, why did they go with the French channel and Euronews? I guess because perhaps most of these diginets are owned by the Big Guys (CTVglobemedia, Canwest, Alliance Atlantis) and also the fact that they are sold in packages.

There is room for some niche channels, case in point Gol TV. Soccer is not really covered by mainstream sports channels and as such there is enough programming and enough of an audience to support such a channel.

According to a post on another board, Rogers may be dropping some channels soon, not sure if this is true so treat it as a rumor for now. Channels mentioned include Bite TV & CGTV.

[57]

Rogers is moving analogue channels into the digital tier slowly, creating room for 2HD channels for each analogue moved.

They will also be implementing SDV in a year or two - sounds like.

From the article:

Cable carriers are investing in technology that allows them to stream one HD signal to a house on demand, rather than serving up dozens at a time. Rogers Communications Inc., which has 42 channels with HD content, expects to start rolling that out in 2008.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=51559 (SDV Explained.)