Continuing Coverage from the Directv Entertainment Expo.

[Hemi 6.1]

I'm calling D* right now ,to see if they tell me the 19th.

 

[anhmduk]

I'm calling D* right now ,to see if they tell me the 19th.

Just hung up and CSR named Jamie said by end of the month.

 

[harshness]

I've got a feeling that 9/19 is going to come and go with the same HD lineup I had in 2005. Aren't internet rumors great?

TNT HD was added in February 2006.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I just called too and said 30 HD channels are launching tomorrow . NO JOKE!!!

 

[harshness]

HE did admit that there is no basis for a price increase.

Not true. He said that the providers don't charge more. The cost of delivering HD programming is higher, so ultimately, the HD channels are more costly than the SD versions.

edit: Flying J beat me to this explanation.

 

[Mike0616]

Im hoping to win lotto

With all those pesky anti-trust lawyers around, methinks you have a much better chance at winning the lotto than D* does of merging with E*.

 

[Mike0616]

not necessarily. for starters, the 9/19 date was reporter on several internal directv documents.

my gut feeling has always said there would be a soft launch on new hd channels before there was any press released. this way, if there are bugs, they can be tweaked before an official launch.

what we heard yesterday was that 70 hd channels would be on air within the next 30 days. in the business, its called cover your ass. again, if you aren't definitive and there are problems, you aren't looking totally stupid as if you had said.....70 channels lit by 9/24 and only 5 were on the air!

AKA, "weasel wording", which is exactly what both press conferences have been full of. They are not exactly lying to you, but neither are they telling you the truth, in fact, they have committed to NOTHING. Words like "expect", "planned", "meeting our goals", et. al. are the buzzwords of weasel wording. (If you have the stomach for it, listen to one of the presidential candidate debates to see weasel wording at its finest!)

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I did notice during the speach , Chase made a little comment about how lame E* fight in the HD world was with adding PPV HD. I thought that was funny.

 

[vurbano]

Not true. He said that the providers don't charge more. The cost of delivering HD programming is higher, so ultimately, the HD channels are more costly than the SD versions.

edit: Flying J beat me to this explanation.

They had better talk to their CSR's because they will tell you that they only raise prices when the providers raise prices.

 

[vurbano]

With all those pesky anti-trust lawyers around, methinks you have a much better chance at winning the lotto than D* does of merging with E*.

That was the point.

 

[vurbano]

AKA, "weasel wording",

AKA "D* speak". :haha

 

[chewy]

If you call DirecTV and ask them when you will see the first new HD channels they will tell you tommorow at 6am.

So it's DirecTV saying it's the 19th.

Is that Eastern or Pacific time?

 

[ChrisPC]

Is that Eastern or Pacific time?

From what I've heard it's Eastern. They've been known to launch channels at 6AM Eastern before.

 

[gadgtfreek]

It does seem positive that csr's are saying tomorrow am. I dont feel that someone would have given them the "robot" answer unless it was a go.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

It does seem positive that csr's are saying tomorrow am. I dont feel that someone would have given them the "robot" answer unless it was a go.

I just go a robot answer on my 2nd call to D*. "Sometime this month" is what he said this time.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I just go a robot answer on my 2nd call to D*. "Sometime this month" is what he said this time.

Ah, so it might not yet be programmed in to the robots about tomorrow, which means it may not be true.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Ah, so it might not yet be programmed in to the robots about tomorrow, which means it may not be true.

Thats what I'm afraid of!

 

[wmj5]

directv since 1995, It looks like directv would at least say something about the hd channels: