HD Distributor Rankings – September 2008

Verizon FiOS just keeps on coming, widening its HD lead vs cable operators—at least in terms of linear HD feeds. Verizon now boasts 112 HD feed vs only 64 for leading MSOs Cablevision and Comcast, followed closely by Time Warner. AT&T U-verse, meanwhile, still beats out several cable ops, including Cox, Charter, Bright House, Insight and Mediacom. Perhaps most interesting is the differential between Aug and Sept, with Verizon adding 8 feeds after adding 9 channels in Aug! And its Sept adds compare to only 1 additional channel for Cablevision and Time Warner. Comcast, however, appears to be on the move, also adding a full 8 feeds in Sept while still lagging far behind in total number of channels. Part of this appears the result of Comcast's greater focus on HD on-demand content vs. linear feeds. But Verizon clearly values the number of its HD feeds to help steal cable's video market share. One notable fact: In Oct, Cablevision added 5 more channels, which will be reflected in the Oct chart. So the race continues…