Remember folks, if its labeled as a rumor then its a rumor.
That means don't bet the house on it.
Also remember for this rumor that Liberty Media owns Starz/Encore and also owns DirecTV so this may have some teeth.
With that said though don't expect a lot of new HD when the new satellite is turned on. While they will add some national HD, the majority of the space will be used for LIL HD. Because it will be awhile before DirecTV launches a new satellite DirecTV has to carefully select the HD they carry, because if they fill up all the space out of the gate its going to be awhile before they add any new HD after that.