Dvlos said:
People in "heavily cabled" areas or metro areas that already appreciate HDTV, it doesn't matter if your D*, E*, or V* have already installed a digital OTA antenna for the locals.
I fall into that category. I live in the city, close to all my towers, but because of multipath issues, and because the towers are in all different directions from me, I've installed three different antennas, with the appropriate filters to combine those signals. It cost some money, and was a big PITA. The typical consumer is NOT going to go through all that to get TV. They haven't had to deal with antennas for a long time, and they aren't going to start now if they can just get cable instead. If DirecTV wants to compete with cable, by far their biggest competitor, they will have to carry locals. This has proven true with SD, and will prove true once again for HD.
If I'm not mistaken the network feeds may still be available to certain customers only or with waivers. The amount of people that do not have access to OTA signals due to the fact they live in rural areas represent the minority my friend.
DirecTV already has CBS E/W, they will have Fox and NBC E/W in the coming weeks, and I wouldn't be surprised if ABC came some time soon as well. Even before you count the O&O territories and white areas that will be able to get these signals, this provides the NY and LA markets with all the major networks in HD from satellite. Those two markets combined are close to 12% of the total market. Once you add the white areas and the O&O areas, that's a pretty big chunk of the market where they will be able to compete with cable. That's a pretty big deal. More markets will come with Spaceway, but obviously these are a higher priority, due to the large percentage that they serve.
However D* is going to use it as "padding" for their marketing, instead of Ooo look 12 HD channels! It's more like OOOO look 22 HD channels (throw logos at your face).
I agree with vinny and a few others, StarzHD and EncoreHD would be more attractive for D*'s current HD customers ...
It's not about being able to market channel count, it's being able to provide the most demanded channels to the largest number of people, particularly people who are not yet customers. Sure, those of us who have gone to the trouble of getting our locals OTA couldn't care less about getting them via satellite. But we are a niche market. And many of us are already DirecTV customers. If they want to grow their market share, they have to compete with cable. And to do that, they need to appeal to cable customers. Most cable customers do what's easiest. That's the biggest benefit of cable. DirecTV has to make themselves as easy as cable if they want to steal their customers.