There were some Doubting Thomases out there, perhaps, who never really believed that DBS firm Dish (or anyone else, for that matter) could provide 100 HD channels before 2009 rolled around. And while this seems to include additional movie channels where many of the same titles are time-shifted, as well as regional sports networks (which often have marginal interest outside a region), Dish does appear to be the first content provider to make good on its pledge of a offering 100 channels, which it had promised by year’s end.
But Dish execs have said in recent days it plans to add 17 HD channels to its satellite line-up in August, which should grow it to the century mark a few months earlier than planned. And a new Dish satellite was scheduled to be launched this week.
Dish’s major DBS competitor, DirecTV, won’t be far behind in the HD race (unless it has a surprise of its own in coming weeks to put it ahead). DirecTV’s newest satellite should be in orbit and operational (sans any unforeseen hitches) by early fall, giving it a lot more HD capacity.
