Satellite Providers Step Up HD Offerings By Mark Fleischmann August 5, 2008 — Both DirecTV and the Dish Network announced last week that they would offer viewers more HD channels. Dish also announced it would do video on demand in 1080p.

DirecTV will launch 30 new HD channels, bringing its HD lineup to 130 channels. HD in 1080p will come later this year. And all of DirecTV's HD offerings will have Dolby Digital. Hey, what about Dolby TrueHD? Or at least Dolby Digital Plus? C'mon, DirecTV, you're not competing hard enough for audio-conscious viewers. New channels will include Showtime Extreme HD, Showtime Showcase HD, Planet Green HD, ABC Family HD, additional HD pay-per-view channels and an additional 23 Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) in HD 24 hours a day. Pricing was not announced.

Oh yeah? says the Dish Network. Well, we're upping our HD channel total to 150 by year-end, including the launch of 17 more HD channels last week, with the help of a new satellite. Subscribers with MPEG-4 HD and HD DVR receivers will be TurboHD-charged in early August, and that includes 1080p output. New channels include ActionMax HD, CBS College Sports HD, Lifetime HD, Lifetime Movie Network HD, Planet Green HD, Encore HD, HBO 2 HD, HBO Comedy HD, HBO Family HD, HBO Latino HD, HBO Signature HD, HBO West HD, HBO Zone HD, Starz Comedy HD, Starz Edge HD, Starz Kids & Family HD, and Starz West HD. The TurboHD package will include three tiers starting at $24.99/month. For existing subscribers, the cost will be as little as $10/month extra.

Dish's on-demand service will launch on August 1 with the Will Smith movie I Am Legend "at a discounted price."

Both services are providing their HD programming in the next-generation MPEG-4 AVC video codec, as opposed to the boring old MPEG-2 codec that's on its way out (though it's still used on a shocking number of Blu-ray discs).

The picture is actually XM satellite radio's satellite, from the Boeing website, but it looked too cool not to use. See DirecTV and Dish Network sites.