Cablevision, which primarily serves the greater New York region (which includes DMA no. 1), said by the end of July it will start giving its subscribers free access to an additional 15 HD channels. The add-on, the cabler said, will bring its total HD menu to 60 channels.
Cablevision said it now serves about 3 million subscribers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and that slightly more than 1 million subs have at least one HD-enabled set-top box in the home, giving HD a penetration rate in one of the most populous regions of the United States of more than 33 percent.
The announcement comes amid increasing competition for the tri-state area’s HD viewers, as telco competitor Verizon said in June it expects to win approval for a FiOS franchise in the Big Apple sometime this month.
Cablevision’s new HD additions will include, among others: AMC; Animal Planet; Discovery Channel; Fox News Channel; FX; Hallmark Movie Channel; Nickelodeon; Travel Channel; the Weather Channel; and WEtv.
