DirecTV to beat Dish in HD market share

Well, that's what the $1,295 report from Kagan
says, so it must be true. We're not dropping thirteen bills to read it;
besides, it's 315 pages and we like to write more than we read. Better yet, we like to watch HD from our satellite providers too. With the planned launch of four new satellites over the next two years, DirecTV is in prime position to take the high-def lead in the DBS market.

In combination with a transition to MPEG-4 compression, the additional satellites will allow DirecTV to provide 1,500 local channels in high-def and up to 150 national HD networks. Dish
has some catching up to do as we still haven't heard any details on the MPEG-4 transition. Maybe we can write up a plan for them and sell it for a few grand a copy?

Other highlights from the report aren't really earth-shattering. For example: By 2015, 88% of all cable and satellite subscribers will watch in high-def. Here's another nugget of info: "Satellite and Cable have larger shares of the HD market than they do of the basic multichannel market." I really think we're in the wrong business. I'm taking the rest of the day off to start planning the over-priced HD Beat report. Interested?