No HGTV HD on Dish Network

[Sean Mota]

HGTV HD Launch Brings Lifestyle Programming to “Life”​

For an Underserved High Def Audience​

​

ATLANTA, Ga. (April 10, 2006) – The high definition viewing landscape will take on a whole new look when HGTV HD launches Monday during the National Cable & Telecommunications Association annual conference.

“The current high definition viewer is a college-educated male over the age of 50. That’s about to change,” said John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks. “HGTV HD will attract a split male, female audience that coincides with our existing brands – people who have an active, upscale lifestyle that goes way beyond viewing of sports and movies. This is a passionate audience that currently is being underserved by other high definition programmers.”

HGTV HD launches at 1 p.m. on Monday with 350 hours of all original programming, and all shot in high definition, in the network library. By the end of the year, some 450 hours of HD programming will be in the HGTV HD library. The first show to air will be World’s Most Extreme Homes. Other programming includes Generation Renovation, Landscape Smart, Rezoned and Small Space, Big Style. HGTV-HD also will include popular programming from FINE LIVING TV NETWORK including the Wandering Golfer and Any Given Latitude, and from DIY Network.

Already, Scripps Networks has reached an agreement for carriage of both HGTV HD and Food Network HD with one of the large satellite providers, giving the new networks a national footprint. Additional cable providers that will distribute the high definition networks include Wide Open West in the Chicago, Detroit, Columbus and Cleveland DMAs, Buckeye Cable in the Toledo, Ohio area and Sunflower Broadband and Everest Connections in the Kansas City DMA. Scripps Networks international group also has an agreement to distribute HGTV and FINE LIVING programming in high definition in Japan.

“The response from our distribution partners to the launch of HGTV HD has been extremely positive and we anticipate having carriage agreements in place reaching the majority of cable and satellite high definition television households by year end,” Lansing said.

In the Digital and High Definition Consumer Marketplace study conducted by Frank N. Magid & Associates in December 2004, 78 percent of HDTV owners said they were not satisfied with the number of channels available at that time in high definition. And 62 percent of owners, adults aged 25 to 54, said they watch lifestyle programming in standard definition on a weekly basis. A Scripps Lifestyle study conducted by ICR Excel Omnibus in January found that 62 percent of respondents are interested in seeing that same lifestyle programming in high definition, and 78 percent of respondents said they are interested in seeing their favorite HGTV and Food Network shows in high definition.

“Women now have more buying power and we increasingly use technology to manage our busy schedules,” said Judy Girard, president of HGTV. “Women’s comfort level with technology is at an all-time high, and that influence has been especially evident in the home theater market. Electronics manufacturers and retailers have started marketing to women, and we want to reach those same women with the most comprehensive lifestyle programming high definition has to offer.”

Scripps Networks plans to launch Food Network HD in the second quarter, and will have about 300 hours of programming within the year. Shows to air on the high-def network include Unwrapped, Paula’s Home Cooking, Good Eats, Food Network Challenge, and Everyday Italian. Food Network HD also will air Pairings with Andrea and Made to Order from FINE LIVING.

About Scripps Networks
Scripps Networks is comprised of the lifestyle television brands HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, FINE LIVING TV NETWORK and country music network Great American Country (GAC). Scripps is the leading developer of lifestyle-oriented content for television and the Internet, where on-air programming is complemented with online content.

In addition, Scripps Networks is aggressively developing its emerging media platforms for broadband and video on demand. Scripps Networks’ brands collectively are available in more than 110 countries on all seven continents. They also are distributed to 1,000 outlets on U.S. military bases and U.S. embassies around the world via the American Forces Radio and Television Service.

Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta and Nashville, Scripps Networks is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP), a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television, national television networks, interactive media, and television retailing. Scripps operates 21 daily newspapers, 10 broadcast TV stations, Scripps Howard News Service, United Media, electronic retailer Shop At Home and Shopzilla.com.

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Contact:​

Cindy McConkey, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications​

cmcconkey@scrippsnetworks.com, (865) 560-3976 or mobile (865) 368-3976​

​

Susan Robertson, Manager, Corporate Communications​

srobertson@scrippsnetworks.com, (865) 560-4316 or mobile (865) 604-4898​

 

[Sean Mota]

The above Press Release is front our friends at Scripps.... Enjoy it guys and let the speculation continue even more...

Already, Scripps Networks has reached an agreement for carriage of both HGTV HD and Food Network HD with one of the large satellite providers, giving the new networks a national footprint. Additional cable providers that will distribute the high definition networks include Wide Open West in the Chicago, Detroit, Columbus and Cleveland DMAs, Buckeye Cable in the Toledo, Ohio area and Sunflower Broadband and Everest Connections in the Kansas City DMA. Scripps Networks international group also has an agreement to distribute HGTV and FINE LIVING programming in high definition in Japan.

 

[mdonnelly]

...HGTV HD launches at 1 p.m. on Monday with 350 hours of all original programming, and all shot in high definition, in the network library. By the end of the year, some 450 hours of HD programming will be in the HGTV HD library. ...

Which works out to ... 15 days worth of original HD to start, and less than 20 days by the end of 2006. Whoopie! They're adding 4 days of original content in 8 months.

 

[DP1]

Two things. For one, if it's just in a small scale test launch, funny Charlie doesnt open it up for us since he has no qualms about letting us "test" the receivers before they're truly ready also. So why not test a new cchannel while we're at it.

And as far as a carriage agreement, I suppose he'd have launched this one on the first day just like he did with Discovery HD back in the day.. if he could've charged the same 7.99 a month for this channel as he did for that one.

 

[Lucky]

How come they just say "one of the large satellite providers". Why don't they mention Dish by name. I assume it does not mean DirecTV.

 

[jerryez]

I pay $20 per month for HD programming thru Dish and Dish promised HDTV-hd when it launched and Food HD tv when it launched. I want my money back, if they are not going to deliver what I was promised for my $20 per month. Let's ALL call Dish and tell them that. CALL NOW!!!!

 

[ChetK]

Ok, would I rather have a HGTV HD (not to be confused with HDTV or HD) channel I never watch or stable firmware for the new MPEG-4 receivers? While I'm a big fan of more HD, I would rather see E* use the next few weeks to unscrew their receivers then to introduce more instability, screeching blank screens of death, trailing video effects, stuttering audio and audio lip-sync, OTA mapping problems, and "freezing" receivers way in advance of introducing HGTV HD, MTV HD, NGHD, FOODHD and others.

Here here! !protest

However, if it's two different groups within E* (which I suspect it would be: One for software development and one for uplinks), I want...dare I say...BOTH.

 

[riffjim4069]

Reading Between the Lines...

“The current high definition viewer is a college-educated male over the age of 50. That’s about to change,”

Ok, it looks like their target market is uneducated young females; young, dumb and full of...Chrysanthemums.

Already, Scripps Networks has reached an agreement for carriage of both HGTV HD and Food Network HD with one of the large satellite providers, giving the new networks a national footprint.

Well, you can eliminate both VOOM DBS and DirecTV from carrying these HD channels; VOOM DBS went out of the HD business and D* was never in the HD business.

Additional cable providers that will distribute the high definition networks include Wide Open West in the Chicago, Detroit, Columbus and Cleveland DMAs, Buckeye Cable in the Toledo, Ohio area and Sunflower Broadband and Everest Connections in the Kansas City DMA.

FiOS, where are you?

Which works out to ... 15 days worth of original HD to start, and less than 20 days by the end of 2006. Whoopie! They're adding 4 days of original content in 8 months.

14.75 days of HD programming divided over the next 265 days = 14.13 times each hour of HD will be looped. Basically 2 days of original programming and 28 days of reruns each month. Or course, they can always go stretch-o-vision.:devil:

 

[Kirby Baker]

Ok, it looks like their target market is uneducated young females; young, dumb and full of...Chrysanthemums.

So that's how that phrase goes huh?

 

[mrtrance]

Ok, it looks like their target market is uneducated young females; young, dumb and full of...Chrysanthemums.

Well, you can eliminate both VOOM DBS and DirecTV from carrying these HD channels; VOOM DBS went out of the HD business and D* was never in the HD business.

FiOS, where are you?

14.75 days of HD programming divided over the next 265 days = 14.13 times each hour of HD will be looped. Basically 2 days of original programming and 28 days of reruns each month. Or course, they can always go stretch-o-vision.:devil:

In regards to FIOS, why weren't they mentioned in the press release? Here's the link that mention how they had signed agreement in place already.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/archive/index.php/t-42916.html

 

[Lucky]

So does anyone have a theory as to why they only mention a large satellite provider without mentioning Dish by name. What is that all about ? Something tells me the deal with Dish is not completely done. It is not launching on Dish on the launch date, and they do not mention Dish by name. What does everyone make out of this ?

 

[roachxp]

But is the 350 hours just HGTV programming in HD?

Or they could have more HD programing from DIY Network, and FINE LIVING TV NETWORK will put it all into one channel. Didn't Scripps Networks say they have been recording their shows in HD since 2003 or 4 during the Charlie Chat.

 

[mike123abc]

They probably cannot name Dish by name until Dish starts to provide the channel. Dish probably does not want 50,000 angry calls looking for HGTV while they do what they need to do to uplink the channel. I really suspect that it is a technical reason it has not launched yet. They have an HD channel broadcasting zeros and they announced the channel (not the usual we are working on a deal and if we can save you money speaches). Could it be a fiber link is not in yet? Could it be the uplink center(s) are overloaded right now moving around all the uplinks to support E10? I bet it will suddenly pop up on Dish when we least expect it...

Edit: another thought, if Dish is broadcasting an empty HD channel right now, I bet it points to a problem getting the signal to Dish for uplinking...

 

[jgags6]

All i know is that Dish is really starting to tick me off for a couple of reasons. My reasons:
1.) Its not that I care about getting HGTV-HD that much, its just the fact that we keep getting lied to.
2.) Charlie likes to tell us one thing when really its another.
3.) The CSRs are no help on anything
4.) They never fill us in with whats going on so were stuck here in the dark.
5.) And Im really pissed about the fricking audio sync problems with my 622 and 411.
There i got it out, i feel alot better

 

[BFG]

6.) It's pretty certain they can contractually carry this channel
7.) We can see no technical reason for witholding it, as we can see Null space being used for nothing

 

[jgags6]

We should make a list with everyones complains and send it to Dish......Not like it wouuld help

 

[DWS44]

We should make a list with everyones complains and send it to Dish

If we did that, Charlie wouldn't have to buy toilet paper for weeks...more money savings!!!!

(since that's what they'd likely use it for)

 

[Slamminc11]

If we did that, Charlie wouldn't have to buy toilet paper for weeks...more money savings!!!!

(since that's what they'd likely use it for)

That's what I would use it for!

 

[waltinvt]

All i know is that Dish is really starting to tick me off for a couple of reasons. My reasons:
1.) Its not that I care about getting HGTV-HD that much, its just the fact that we keep getting lied to.
2.) Charlie likes to tell us one thing when really its another.
3.) The CSRs are no help on anything
4.) They never fill us in with whats going on so were stuck here in the dark.
5.) And Im really pissed about the fricking audio sync problems with my 622 and 411.
There i got it out, i feel alot better

6.) It's pretty certain they can contractually carry this channel
7.) We can see no technical reason for witholding it, as we can see Null
space being used for nothing

8.) Like how long have they been teasing us about HD DNS?
9.) Starz HD implied as a done deal but still not here.
10.) 622 gets a little worse for many with each new download.

 

[John Kotches]

Maybe they're waiting for a TP to free up on 119 as they do moves to E X?

That's certainly a possibility.