Padding the HD Channel Count: Go West, Young Man!
Now that Cablevision has entered the “100 HD Club,” it apparently no longer has any objections to counting West Coast feeds of the same network as part of the total lineup. (See Cablevision Hits 100 HD Channels.)
Rewind to July 2008: Verizon, as part of the marketing push into New York City, drove its HD score over the 100 mark.
At the time, Cablevision snipped that there were a whole lotta duplicate feeds in there — I counted 16 channels that were simply East or West coast feeds of another channel already in the HD lineup. (See Verizon’s 100 HD Channels: Too Many Duplicates?)
Cablevision, in getting into the triple-digits, has used the very same trick: 11 of the “new” HDs it is introducing are West Coast feeds of HBO, Showtime and Starz networks it already carries.
Yeah, I know, the satellite guys started it. But Time Warner Cable, to its credit, did not use bicoastal feeds to get up to 100 in NYC. (See Time Warner Cable Offering 100 HD Channels In NYC.)
Here’s the full list of Cablevision’s 100 HD channels, scheduled to be available to all subscribers by June, in alphabetical order (new channels in bold):
@MAX HD
A&E HD
ABC HD
ActionMAX HD
AMC HD
Animal Planet HD
BET HD
Bio HD
Bravo HD
CBS HD
Cinemax HD
Cinemax West HD
CMT HD
CNBC HD
CNN HD
Comedy Central HD
Crime & Investigation HD
CW HD
Discovery Channel HD
E! HD
Encore HD
ESPN HD
ESPN2 HD
Five Star Max HD
Food Network HD
FOX HD
FOX News HD
fuse HD
FX HD
G4 HD
Golf HD
Hallmark Movie Channel HD
HBO Comedy HD
HBO Family HD
HBO Family West HD
HBO HD
HBO Latino HD
HBO Signature HD
HBO Signature West HD
HBO West HD
HBO Zone HD
HBO2 HD
HBO2 West HD
HD Theater
HGTV HD
History Channel HD
IFC HD
Live Well HD
MLB Network HD
MoreMAX HD
MSG HD
MSG Plus HD
MTV HD
My9 HD
National Geographic Channel HD
NBA TV HD
NBC HD
NHL Network HD
Nickelodeon HD
Outdoor Channel HD
OuterMAX HD
Palladia HD
Planet Green HD
QVC HD
Sci-Fi HD
Science Channel HD
Showtime Extreme HD
Showtime HD
Showtime Showcase HD
Showtime Showcase West HD
Showtime Too HD
Showtime Too West HD
Showtime West HD
Speed Channel HD
Spike HD
SportsNet New York HD
Starz Comedy HD
Starz Edge HD
Starz HD
Starz Kids & Family HD
Starz West HD
Style HD
TBS in HD
The Weather Channel HD
Thirteen HD
Thriller Max HD
TLC HD
TMC HD
TMC West HD
TMC XTRA HD
TMC XTRA West HD
TNT in HD
Travel Channel HD
Universal HD
USA HD
VERSUS HD
VH1 HD
W Max HD
WE HD
YES HD
Rob commented:
Be Lucky I only get 23 HD channels with Suddenlink.
Neil commented:
HD count is HD count.
West coast feeds have always added to the total number of all channels offered. But that was sd. Now, somehow that's not good enough in the hd world. Why not? I watch HBO-W, HBO2-W, SHO-W ..... so why not in HD? I pay alot of money for iO Gold ... and I want movies in HD!!! Adding crap like Comedy Central HD, MTV-HD and the like, with little to no hd programming is a waste .... and that adds to HD count too. At least the premium channels, are MOSTLY IN HD!!!!!
RemyM commented:
Pete - Fairfield County, CT is not part of the Red Sox or Bruins territory so even if you had NESN you wouldn't get any games. Cablevision does carry NESN-HD on their Litchfield, CT system.
jeff commented:
Why NOT count the west coast feeds?? If it means a different movie is on at that moment when surfing the channels, then that's only more HD options for me.
Pete commented:
Cablevision used to carry NESN in Fairfield County, CT way back when, but no longer. So for the BoSox and Pats fans, no real good choices with Cablevision. Would be great to get NESN HD but when you call Cablevision, they don't even know what NESN is!
JasonG commented:
WLIW is not an HD channel even though it sits in the middle of the HD channels. It use to be HD several years ago. Should be 100 and if you count HDPPV and HD On Demand it's 102. I don't count those myself.
mws192 commented:
@Allan ->
The Litchfield County CT system gets the local CT stations in HD (and NY feeds in sd) whereas the other systems it's the opposite since they're all in the NYC designated market area. Except Milford, not sure what the deal is there.
I personally love the fact that I get the NY channels in HD here in south western CT so I can get all the Giants and Jets games in HD.
My family, 20 miles north in Charter territory, get the CT HD channels and they lose out alot with sports. Mainly Pats over Jets, and Boston area college sports over national feeds in HD.
Plus, we get the Giants and Jets simulcast games when they're on NFL Network in HD since we get the NY stations.
I wouldn't mind seeing the CT channels in HD in addition to the NY ones for news and sports, but other than that it's pointless to carry both. Maybe via SDV?
Also, FIOS is only available in a sliver of Greenwich for all of CT. The rest is all UVerse. You'll be waiting along time if you're looking for FIOS and you don't live in that one spot.
Allan commented:
Not to mention that they STILL do not provide local Connecticut stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.) in HD. They do in non-HD, but not in HD. They provide the local NY stations in both non-HD AND HD. No love for CT. Come on FIOS, get in my neighborhood!!
Media Mark commented:
Well, at least these are all bona fide "channels" unlike the Comcast claim that they have "the most HD" by counting all their On Demand HD movies! And by the way, when did the Free HD Movies start including commercial breaks? That sucks!