Verizon's 100 HD Channels: Too Many Duplicates?
Verizon is charging into NYC with its HD guns a-blazin’. Starting this week it’s offering 100 high-def channels to FiOS TV subs in the New York metro area.
"Time’s up, Time Warner," the telco snipes as part of its marketing campaign, Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield noted in a blog post yesterday.
Kudos to the Verizon folks for getting to the magical triple-digit number of 100. But that still means it has 50 more to go before it hits its promised year-end target. Meanwhile, DirecTV has moved the goalposts again, to push up to 130 HDs next month.
And Cablevision has already pointed out to some reporters that the FiOS TV HD lineup includes a number of duplicates.
It’s a fair point. I counted 16 channels that are simply East or West coast feeds of another channel already in the lineup. Verizon’s reaction: "The industry counts these feeds as separate and distinct channels," spokesman Eric Rabe wrote in a blog post.
[UPDATE: As noted by comments below, both DirecTV and Dish use this same logic to pad their HD channel counts — see Cable Needs To Tout Its Best HD Offers: Panel.]
Are there too many duplicates? You can decide for yourself. Here’s the full list, in alphabetical order, from Verizon:
* A&E HD
* ABC Family HD
* ABC HD
* Action Max
* Action Max West
* Animal Planet HD
* At Max
* Big Ten Network HD
* Bio. The Biography Channel HD
* Bravo HD
* CBS HD
* Cinemax HDTV
* Cinemax West HD
* CNBC HD
* CNN HD
* CW HD
* Discovery Channel HD
* Disney Channel HD
* ESPN HDTV
* ESPN2 HDTV
* ESPNews HD
* Five Star Max
* Food HD
* Fox Business Network HD
* FOX HD
* Fox News Channel HD
* FX HD
* Hallmark Movie Channel HD
* HBO 2 HD
* HBO 2 HD (West)
* HBO Comedy
* HBO Comedy West
* HBO Family
* HBO Family West
* HBO HDTV
* HBO Latino
* HBO Latino West
* HBO Signature
* HBO Signature (West)
* HBO West HD
* HBO Zone
* HBO Zone (West)
* HD Net
* HD Net Movies
* HD Theater
* HGTV HD
* Lifetime HD East
* Lifetime Movie Network HD
* Mav TV
* MGM Channel HD
* MHD
* More Max
* More Max West
* MY NETWORK HD
* National Geographic Channel HD
* NBC HD
* NFL Network HDTV
* Outdoor Channel 2 HD
* Outer Max
* PBS HD
* Planet Green
* QVC HD
* SCI FI HD
* Sho2 HD
* Sho2 HD West
* Showcase HD East
* Showcase HD West
* Showtime Extreme East
* Showtime Extreme West
* Showtime HD West
* Showtime HDTV
* Smithsonian HD
* Speed HD
* SportsNet NY HD
* Starz Comedy HD
* Starz Edge HD
* Starz HDTV
* Starz Kids & Family HD
* Superstation WGN HD
* TBS HD
* The History Channel HD
* The Learning Channel HD
* The Movie Channel HDTV
* The Science Channel HD
* The Travel Channel HD
* The Weather Channel HD
* Thriller Max
* Thriller Max West
* TMC HD - West
* TMC Xtra East
* TMC Xtra West
* TNT HDTV
* Toon Disney HD
* Universal HDTV
* USA HD
* Versus / Golf HD
* Wealth TV HD
* Wmax
* World Fishing Network HD
* YES HD
Guest commented:
Hey, if I can watch something at 8pm instead of 11pm on the east coast feed out here on the west coast, I count that as another channel. Uverse does the same thing, Charter which I just left doesn't, so I've got more options of when and what to watch in HD.
Kyle Luna commented:
One more note, before anyone points out that many of the HD PPV channels have the same movies on but starting at about a half hour apart, Digital Cable was doing that not to long ago as part of the "Near Video On Demand" concept prior to Video On Demand becoming widespread and PPV shifted more to a Events Only thing. It's so people who don't have HD DVR's and access to DirecTV On Demand or Dish On Demand can get a simulated experience where they can catch a PPV Movie when they're ready almost every half hour. DirecTV and Dish Network will probably decrease the HD PPV channels down the road when HD DVRs get more penetration in the market. Until then they will just be another "choice" for satellite viewers using cables own marketing logic...
Kyle Luna commented:
If cable wants to count HD VOD and HD channels together as "1000+ HD choices", DirecTV, Dish Network and FiOS should be able to do the same with east and west coast feeds as well as HD PPV since there's almost always something different on them at a given time.
brad commented:
not only do d&d do the same on east / west feeds (which seems somewhat fair), they also count their hd ppv channels, which seems even more bogus to me (cable and vz of course have hd vod).
Charles W. commented:
so what if DISH and Direct inflate their HD counts in the same way. Verizon shouldnt be jumping off the cliff just because they're doing it.
vito t commented:
awful job trying to put a negative spin on something positive. 100 channels is 100 channels and they are available to those in new york that can get it. satellite claims 100+ hd channels while a lot of pay per view or regional sports network so actual count that one can see is around 70. time warner and cablevision dont even carry all these premium channels in high def.
Lauren commented:
Please. My comcast lineup is filled with those same duplicates - just in plain old standard def. Hasn't cable embraced the multiplex strategy? They're just behind the 8 ball on multiplex in HD. Behind on HD period. Plus the tiling I get on comcast is painful. It's time for a change.
billy commented:
>> DirecTV and Dish Network do the same thing. LIke I said - kinda bogus!
Marcus commented:
DirecTV and Dish Network do the same thing.
billy commented:
HBO HD and HBO West HD may be discrete but it's the exact same stuff, just 3 hours later. kinda bogus
