Thread: Discovery to Launch 6 New HD Channels

coming later this year or next year:


http://www.tvpredictions.com/discovery050707.htm

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I loved their Direct TV comment. Buying into the hype!

AWESOME! Discovery HD theatre is one of the HD channels I watch the most anyways. Lost of good shows on the discovery lineup. Can't wait!

six channels? Wow, thats a lot of HD content they will need. I hope it happens.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/discovery050707.htm

News
Discovery to Launch 6 New HD Channels
The new channels are expected this fall and early next year.
By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (May 7, 2007) -- Discovery, which launched Discovery HD Theater five years ago next month, plans to launch four new High-Definition TV network this fall.

That's according to an article in Adweek Magazine. (This was also predicted here last month at TVPredictions.com.)

Discovery tells the publication that it will launch high-def simulcasts of Animal Planet, TLC, The Science Channel and the company's main network, Discovery Channel.

Then, in the first quarter of 2008, Discovery says it will add two more high-def channels.


Animal Planet is going high-def.

"Having established first-mover advantage in the HD space with Discovery HD Theater, this is a step toward growing that leadership," Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav told the publication.

There was no word on which TV providers would carry the additional high-def channels. But DIRECTV is a good bet with the satcaster saying it will offer 100 national HD channels by year's end.

He added that the HD channels will also be available in Discovery's international markets.

With the addition of a Discovery Channel HD simulcast, Zaslav says it will become the company's high-def flagship.

He adds that the time is right for more high-def channels with HDTVs now in 30 million U.S. homes.

"We have to drive ourselves toward really becoming a new-media company with all that entails rather than just sitting back and continuing on as a traditional cable company," he says. "HD is the new analog tier."

John Hendricks, Discovery's founder and chairman, agrees, saying he pushed for a documentary to be produced in high-def years ago when few others took notice.

"I insisted that it was to be done in High-Definition, and back then it was a hugely daunting proposition," Hendricks tells Adweek. "Beyond the expense, we couldn't even say for certain that the cameras would work out in the field given the temperature extremes. At the time, no media company could have undertaken a project of this magnitude on its own."

I wonder if Discovery HD theater will merge with Discovery main network. It seems to me that it will make more sense for this to be so.

Discovery Network announced a couple of years ago that they intend to film almost everything in HD-compatible resolutions/formats for this eventuality. Most shows on TLC, Discovery, and so on have been widescreen for quite some time.

They also have bought raw footage from Voom network EquatorHD, along with NGeo.