The video clip of the 1989 20/20 show talking about HDTV was a very interesting.
Guess we can thank Japan for starting research and development back in 1964. I also found at the end of the clip where HBO said it could start broadcasting in HD now but nobody had HD TV's interesting since still today D* only offers limited HBO in HD.
This is DirecTV's fault. All 26 HBO/MAX channels have been available in HD for the last few years. FIOS has them all. Many cable companies have most of the eastern feeds and probably the western feeds out west.
Don't be fooled people. It is not these HD channels don't exist! You can blame capacity with DirecTV, you can blame negotiations for DirecTV to carry them, but you cannot deny that all 26 HBO/MAX channels are available in HD for any provider to carry.