There has been a battle raging for years now, right here in the US; the battle over your television viewing habits. Cable and satellite television providers have both proclaimed victory, but the issue is far from settled. The advent of HDTV might possibly end the war, though, in the favor of satellite providers. What does the future of HDTV providers hold? There are many possibilities, though consumers will have the final say.
There are actually three players who stand to benefit from providing HDTV programming: satellite providers, cable companies and air-to-ground stations. For the uninitiated, air-to-ground stations are your local television providers, and they're about to go all digital. This means that as of 2009, you will no longer be able to watch free television on an analogue television set without a converter box. For consumers, this means that at least one more expense is on the horizon. What does this mean for providers, though?
For air-to-ground providers, it probably does not mean much. They have been steadily losing ground with some viewers, while retaining a loyal following in other sectors. The future for these providers looks much the same as today. So, what about the other two providers?
Satellite TV and cable TV providers stand to gain the most from the switch to HDTV. Once, it was though that the change to this format meant better picture resolution and better sound but reduced channels due to an increase in bandwidth consumption. In fact, one prominent proponent of HDTV even set the number of future available channels at 30! Today, this seems somewhat ridiculous. DirecTV alone has the ability to broadcast over 150 national HDTV channels and over 1,000 local channels. So, that puts that theory to bed.
Satellite television providers are the farthest along the digital road, leaving cable companies like Comcast remarkably behind the times. The satellite providers continue to add new satellites to their lineup, increasing their bandwidth and, therefore, their potential number of channels. Also in the works are HDTV capable broad band connections. Cable companies are increasing their abilities as well, though.
New technologies are in the works that will allow cable companies to match satellite providers in number of channels offered, or even surpass them. They are also developing a broad band solution. Cable companies, such as Comcast, refuse to be left in the dust by their competitors, even though the competition has become more one-sided than at any other point in history. If you compare satellite to cable, you can see that there is some room for improvement on their part.
With the stiff competition among providers, the future of HDTV looks incredible. Rather than being relegated to a small number of channels, that number is set to shoot skywards. Interactivity will be present, DVR's are being modified and entire homes will be able to be connected to the HDTV system of the consumer's choice. The one certain thing about the coming HDTV wars is that both cable and satellite providers will be there. In the end, this is the best thing for the consumer, giving them the ability to choose the system and the provider that best matches their wants and needs.
Whitney Alen is a Direct TV expert and has over 10 years experience in the satellite TV industry.
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