To Live and Watch HD in LA

The LA Times recently posted an article about the dearth of HD channels and programming on Los Angeles area cable:

The entertainment capital of the world ranks last among the five biggest U.S. markets in the number of high-definition channels available to cable-TV subscribers. New York, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia all get far more, as do such smaller cities as San Diego and Charlotte, N.C.

Southern California's No. 1 pay-TV provider, Time Warner Cable Inc., can't improve its systems fast enough to keep up with demand for the sharper pictures of high-definition.

The company, which serves 1.9 million customers across Southern California, has promised to add 12 high-definition channels by July 1, and nine more by the end of the year, but cynical subscribers aren't buying it.

This frustrates the hell out of me. The only cable provider in the area is Time Warner Cable, so there is no way for any of us to switch to a competitor without going to satellite. And trust me, I thought long and hard about DirecTV's 100+ HD channel lineup after getting my HD set in December, but in the end I decided it was a lot of hassle for minimal gain. The reality is I don't watch that much television; there are a few shows I follow, but all of them except for Battlestar Galactica are on the four major networks, which are in HD with TWC. Sure, I channel surf some nights, but that matters less to me – besides, having a disincentive to watch crap TV is a good thing.

If TWC intro'd Sci-Fi HD, and a few movie-type channels (maybe Bravo [soon to be Lifetime] HD for Project Runway), I'd be more than happy. I could always add HBO or Showtime, but again, I don't watch enough to justify that, especially when Netflix sends me al of the Blu-ray discs I can ask for.

My personal annoyances aside, it's embarrassing that Hollywood has such a lame HD cable lineup. This table shows just how bad we've got it.

Come on, TWC. We're making the content, and I can speak to how much of it is delivered in HD. So show it to us that way already!

[c/o Brett]