Today's High-Def Headlines

DirecTV: We’re Still In HD Lead - MCN
DirecTV’s newest satellite, launched last week, will permit the nation’s largest satellite-TV provider to deliver up to 150 national high-definition channels and expand its delivery of local HD channels to more than 100 markets when the bird goes into service this fall, according to the company. With the added capacity of DirecTV 11, DirecTV said that will be able to vastly expand its industry-leading HDTV offering. Right now, DirecTV delivers 92 national HD channels and local HD broadcast stations in 77 cities, representing about 76% of TV households.

HD Videoconferencing: In Your Living Room - USA Today/AP
Will the HDTV set be the new picturephone? Quanta Computer, a leading contract maker of laptop computers, and OoVoo, a maker of video chat software, are announcing plans Monday to take high-definition videoconferencing to the living room with a gadget that plugs into the HDTV and connects it to the Internet. Users of the Quanta Video Messenger will be able to hold chats from the comfort of their living rooms with others with the device as well as anyone who is running OoVoo's software on a PC.

Bird Watching In HD - MCN
Dish Network, with its new bird falling short in its orbit, lost a round in the competitive HDTV arms race earlier this week. Meanwhile DirecTV — after a scare — got a literal rocket boost for its ambitious expansion plans. The news involving the two rivals centered on satellite launches. Those new birds were meant to enable Dish and DirecTV to ratchet up the number of national and local high-definition channels they can offer, as they compete to sign up subscribers.

Reds Games to Air in HDTV - Cincinnati Enquirer
Time Warner will add Reds games in beautiful HDTV clarity this season from Fox Sports Net Ohio on Cincinnati Channel 968 and Dayton Channel 768, after not carrying any the Reds' FSN Ohio HDTV games last year. FSN Ohio will air 71 HDTV Reds baseball games - of 145 Reds telecasts - this season, starting with the Reds-Brewers April 8. Insight cable offered high-def Reds games to Northern Kentucky customers last year (and again this year).

Superstation WGN Fires HD Pitches - MCN
“March Madness” may be engulfing much of the sports world, but opening day is drawing nigh and Superstation WGN is warming up with a host of baseball-themed movies, ahead of a slate of games in high-definition. WGN-TV is producing all of its 2008 regular-season Chicago Cubs and White Sox games in 1080i HD. The station, which makes its feed available to Superstation WGN, is producing 71 Cubs contests and 29 Chisox games in the enhanced format. Sixty-four Cubs games and 29 White Sox games will air on WGN-DT 9.1. Eight Cubs games and 25 Sox games will air on WCIU-DT 26.1.

SNL Kagan Estimates Over 71 Million HD Subscribers by 2012 (press release)
SNL Kagan's newest study, "Economics of High Definition Cable Networks," estimates that cable and satellite high definition subscribers will penetrate 65.7% of U.S. multichannel households by 2012, up from 18.8% in 2007. More than one-third of homes now have HDTV sets, with that number growing each year, so cable networks will face increasing pressure to offer more HD content.

GalleryPlayer Inks Deal with Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America to Embed HD Art and Photography in 2008 Flat Screen Models (press release)
GalleryPlayer, the pioneer in HD lifestyle imagery, has announced a partnership with Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc., to embed the Company's proprietary technology into 2008 Mitsubishi HDTV models launching this spring, allowing consumers to view GalleryPlayer's library of full HD 1080p fine art and photographic images.