El Segundo-based DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite TV provider, said Tuesday that it added 30 new high-definition channels, which will start rolling out in May.
The roll-out will last several months, eventually bringing DirecTV's total full-time HD lineup to more than 160.
Some of the new HD channels include Showtime Beyond HD, CSN California HD and Showtime Next HD.
DirecTV's announcement comes a day after rival satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. of Englewood, Colo., said it had reached 200 HD channels before any other U.S. pay-TV service.
However, DirecTV counters that it has more "full-time" HD channels than any other service.
"From day one we have led the way with HD and, to the dismay of our competitors, that has not changed," Derek Chang, DirecTV's executive vice president of content strategy and development, said in a release. "While Dish Network is very skilled at grossly inflating their HD numbers, you'd be hard pressed to find an actual list of comprehensive HD channels that match their recent claims."
I thought I saw an article yesterday on this blog about Dish's claim of 200 HD channels and how they're giving away 1 yr of free programming to some DIRECTV customers. Can't find it now. Ends up it was very misleading by Dish... yes, it's free programming, but I just read an article about how Dish confessed yesterday afternoon that their 200 "channels" includes 57 HD movies that can only be seen on one particular DVR model. what's up with that? counting a movie as a channel?