Time Warner adds HD movie channel, expands HD tier 33%
April 28th, 2009, 12:01 am · 12 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Time Warner Cable added the MGM HD channel in all areas on Channel 422, as part of its sparsely populated HD Tier.
About time! The sad HD tier, until now, had a measly three channels and charged $5/month. Its only saving grace is that pretty much all of the other HD channels are included for free with digital TV service and an HD box. With four channels in the HD tier, that comes out to $1.25 each per month.
While it may seem odd to only have 3 or 4 channels in a $5 tier, other TV services are offering something similar. AT&T’s U-verse’s “HD Premium Tier” only has 4 channels for $5 extra per month, Cox’s “High-Definition Plus Tier” is $4.95 and has 3 channels, while DirecTV’s “HD Extra” pack includes six channels for $4.95/month.
Why? Not sure. I’ve never asked. But I have a theory. The channels in these special tiers are from HDNet and other channels that only broadcast in HD. They have no standard-definition counterpart. When a company like Time Warner negotiates with a TV channel on whether it will add it to the lineup, I’m sure it tries to include the network’s catalog of channels — be it high def or standard def.
The MGM HD addition brings Time Warner’s HD offering to approximately 51 channels, if you include the HD tier (4 channels) and premium HD channels (4 channels).
And as a TV service, Time Warner is still playing major catch-up with the rest of the county’s offerings. Here are the latest numbers from the various TV services. I counted up the HD channels listed on the companies’ Web sites. Yes, some companies say they offer more, but if so, they certainly don’t publicize what channels those exactly are:
| TV company | HD channels |
|---|---|
| Verizon FiOS | 115 |
| AT&T U-verse | 106 |
| DirecTV | 104 |
| Dish Networks | 88 |
| Cox Cable | 53 |
| Time Warner | 51 |
More TV news: Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services. Latest TV services headlines:
Reader Comments
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.- Keep it civil and stay on topic.
- No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
- People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.
- By posting your comment, you agree to allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to republish your name and comment in additional Register publications without any notification or payment.
12 Comments
-
ADVERTISEMENT
-
Things to do
-
To view local listings CLICK
HERE
Or visit your TV provider: * Cox Cable * Time Warner Cable * DirecTV * Dish Network * AT&T U-verse * Verizon FiOS *
Watch a show online HERE. Get TV/mobile help on Twitter
-
-
The North Orange County Computer Club answers your tech questions. Visit the PC Club page and the Stump archives.Recent Q&As:
>>Click HERE for more PC Club answers 
More O.C. Tech News- SRCH2 Bolsters Enterprise Search With Broad Language Support May 22, 2013
- San Diego, Irvine Tops For Engineering Job Demand, Says Report May 21, 2013
- AnyMeeting Gives Gentle Nudge Towards Pro Plans May 21, 2013
- Kaleio Launches Professional Workforce Networking Service May 20, 2013
- ChicksStarter Pulls Together Funding For A Lucky Female Startup May 20, 2013
- YouMail Spins New Updates To Android App May 20, 2013
- Alteryx Gets $12M For Big Data Analysis Tools May 20, 2013
- QLogic In CEO Shuffle May 20, 2013
- Privlo Raises $2.1M For Private Mortgage Marketplace May 17, 2013
- Mindspeed Adds Board Member May 17, 2013
-
ADVERTISEMENT
Here's a list of TV/mobile companies helping consumers one tweet at a time. 
I am a Time Warner Cable customer. I have a problem with the following sentence you wrote in the above post regarding the amount TWC charges for HD programming:
<>
You might as well say that KFC offers chicken for free when you buy their bucket.
Particular HD channels are included in TWC’s basic digital cable package. This basic digital cable package is not offered for free. Stating that Time Warner Cable offers any HD channels for free is irresponsible journalism and insult to your readers’ intelligence.
I am a Time Warner Cable customer. I have a problem with the following sentence you wrote in the above post regarding the amount TWC charges for HD programming:
“Its only saving grace is that pretty much all of the other HD channels are included for free with digital TV service and an HD box.”
You might as well say that KFC offers chicken for free when you buy their bucket.
Particular HD channels are included in TWC’s basic digital cable package. This basic digital cable package is not offered for free. Stating that Time Warner Cable offers any HD channels for free is irresponsible journalism and insult to your readers’ intelligence.
Hi Chris — The fact is that many HD channels are included with Time Warner’s digital TV service and an HD box — whether you want them or not. The HD box doesn’t cost more than a regular digital box (I recommend trading up even if you don’t have an HDTV because you’ll get more channels). If you are a digital TV subscriber and are unable to get the HD channels, you’d better call and ask. Relative to its competitors, Time Warner doesn’t charge extra for the majority of HD channels. Other companies, such as DirecTV, charge $10 more for access to HD versions of ABC, CBS, The Weather Channel, etc.
Ms Chuang, I completely understood everything you wrote in the original post. What I don’t understand is why a journalist would write that something is free when it isn’t.
Time Warner may offer more HD channels in their basic package than their competitors, but the fact remains that money must be paid in order to receive these HD channels. That is not the definition of “free”,
The spin that you are putting on this makes me wonder if you are secretly shilling for TWC’s marketing department.
Chris — If I was secretly shilling for Time Warner, they probably weren’t too happy when I wrote about their 1-cent movie mess, the constant outages and other customer issues. Based on reader response, I continue to write about Time Warner when it has good news and bad. Free HD? Yup, that’s a marketing term that attracted me as a customer. I’ll keep that in mind for the next post.
I believe this might be the reason that I have been getting kicked offline intermittently for the past week. Patch 3.1 came out for World of Warcraft, and it is sooo lovely that they notify us of potential downtimes…. It kind of sucks leaving 24 people waiting for about 30 minutes when you are suddenly booted offline. Actually, there are 6 of us that have TWC here in SoCal, and we all get booted offline at the same time, so at least we know it is TWC, and not just our routers. Time Warner FTL.
I pay over $120 a month for cable and internet, there are very vew HD channels available and even CNN hd that used to be included, is not included in the HD chanels , where can I find a list of all chanels included in my backage?
thanks
FFarrag — Time Warner recently revamped its website so you can look up what channels you get based on your city or region. Here’s a link: http://www.timewarnercable.com/customerservice/clu/clu.ashx. Not sure what area of the Carolinas you’re from, but I just checked the channel guide for Chapel Hill, and that city gets 64 HD channels, if you include premiums and on-demand channels. Not bad.
Recently switched to Verizon FIOS from Time Warner. I have only one major regret. Why did I wait so long. TWC sucks.
I’m a longtime TWC customer, and have occaision to gripe about them, but the fact is they’re a relatively good deal. I have a 42″ HDTV with a cablecard slot. For $50 a month, I get a whole slew of HD channels, plus cablecard and separate DVR. It’s a great deal, cheaper than Uverse and sattelite competitors.
My only current grips is that when I DVR a show, I can’t use my tv’s CC function, and the DVR’s CC controls are too cumbersome to turn on and off. But that’s a whole separate topic altogether.
Im pretty sure Dish Network has over 120 HD channels available…
TWC is really bad in Corpus Christi, Tx. Free HD is a joke, we only have 12 free HD channels here and they are at the bottom of the list like an afterthought.