HD showdown

With the holidays approaching, high-definition television sets will top many consumer wish lists, bringing the total of HDTV-owning households to more than 30 million. With this in mind, telcos, cable providers and satellite companies are pulling out all the stops to strengthen their HD strategy: growth, as fast as possible.

Escalating the fray in Northern California is SureWest. The company has promised at least 38 HD channels by the end of this month; its current total is lingering at 26.

“Our position is that if there is an HD channel out there and it brings value to our lineup and to our customers, then we are going to look at it,” said Jaime Montes, video product marketing manager for SureWest.

While HD channels require five to six times the bandwidth as regular channels, Montes said SureWest's fiber-to-the-home setup makes having enough bandwidth a non-issue — a benefit satellite and cable providers can't claim.

“When it comes down to it, being able to offer unlimited HD channels is going to really, really play in our favor,” Montes said.

Although SureWest wants to be the premiere HD provider in its area, DirecTV retains the lead. It is promising 100 channels by year's end after spending more than $1 billion in the past few years to enable its satellite capabilities to carry more HD channels.

But other providers aren't backing down. AT&T is adding HD channels to its current lineup of 30, and Verizon has promised 150 by the end of 2008. On the cable side, Comcast has made a farfetched pledge to add 800 (loosely defined) HD channels by the end of 2008.

While AT&T would not release a specific goal for 2008, a company spokesperson said its HD channel lineup will expand in the next year to remain competitive, adding that HD is important to the overall entertainment experience.

For SureWest, however, HD is the experience. “We see HD as being the future now,” Montes said. “We want to add as many [channels] as possible and really give consumers a true HD experience.”