DIRECTV Offers Local HD Stations

DIRECTV is already the leader in HD programming, so why not add more to the selection? Now select markets can get local public television stations, like PBS, in high definition. This is occurring in 14 restricted markets all across the United States.

This roll out will continue through the rest of 2008 and will carry on into 2009. This brings DIRECTV ahead of the scheduled February digital transition. DIRECTV has announced that the following markets will be expanded to include local stations in HD: Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque, Iowa; Chicago; Davenport, Iowa-Rock Island-Moline, Illinois; Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St Paul, New York, Norfolk-Newport News, Virginia; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; Rochester, New York; and Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas.

This is all in accordance with an agreement with the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), PBS, and DIRECTV. The Executive Vice President of Content Strategy and Development for DIRECTV, Derek Chang, said “We applaud the cooperative effort put forth by the member stations, APTS and PBS, to ratify the digital carriage agreement that enables DIRECTV to begin delivering local public television stations in HD to our customers.” He added, “As the industry’s HD leader and the only satellite TV provider to offer local PBS stations in HD, we believe in delivering content that is worthy of this incredible technology. The addition of PBS’s high-quality programming to our HD lineup continues to raise the bar on the DIRECTV viewing experience.”

All this will be on top of the current programming in 115 local markets. These numbers represent about 87 percent of households in the US with TVs. This goes to show that DIRECTV is committed to delivering the best and most HD in the industry.