More Premium Movie Channels to Be Broadcast in HD

If you love watching movies on cable or satellite and you are looking for a reason to upgrade to HD, you may now have the reason you need. According to recent reports, Showtime will soon be adding eight new HD channels to its programming offerings. This will bring the grand total of HD Showtime offerings up to 12. Surprisingly, these additions are expected to be launched this August. In addition, the company also has plans to add another ten HD channels by the first quarter in 2009.

HBO also has big plans when it comes to HD programming. According to its executives, the network will be broadcasting all of its 26 channels in HD by the end of this month. To date, the network already has 19 channels broadcasting in HD. The company, which currently offers about 85% of its content in HD, also intends to offer all of its content in high definition by the end of the year.

“All of our research shows that there is a huge correlation between the consumer that has upgraded to an HDTV or is looking to upgrade and the interest in premium channels, with commercial-free, high-quality HD content,” said Tom Christie, who is a Showtime executive vice president.

The COO and president of Starz, William Myers, also agrees. “We’re in a good place right now because we can offer consumers the commercial-free HD content they want,” he said. “Movies are still one of the top two or three genres that people want to watch and original content is another.”

Whether or not the satellite and cable companies will offer all of these options, however, remains to be seen. Therefore, you should be certain to check into what your provider offers before taking the leap to HD.