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What that means is that DStv subscribers should get ready to see channels in future like M-Net Action (DStv 106) or M-Net Series (DStv 110) getting HD channel versions that will most likely be called M-Net Action HD and M-Net Series HD.
''We currently have huge contraints around uplink fascilities in South Africa, so we'll probably do one more HD channel from here and then the rest of the services will come from the United Kingdom - so the other HD channels will be international HD channels,'' says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content.
''What we will do with future HD channels is to cater to mainstream audiences first,'' she says. Vuzu (DStv 123) would be considered a niche channel and therefore not mainstream, so Vuzu HD is out for now, for instance. ''Globally there's a whole move to not take so-called bespoke TV channels anymore,'' says Aletta Alberts. ''Discovery HD Showcase (DStv 172) is a bespoke channel - its not an exact HD simulcast of what you see in standard definition (SD). After we took Discovery HD Showcase we said that as MultiChoice we will never take a bespoke channel again.''
''I think for the consumer, they have a relationship with your brand and they expect certain shows to be there on a channel. They don't want to happen to be on a HD channel and realize a show is not there. You just want, as a viewer, to make the technology choice and still get the same show. Moving forward MultiChoice will only take HD channels that are simulcast versions of existing channels. And then it depends on how much HD content is actually available for that channel,'' she says.
Providing more clues as to MultiChoice's next HD channel additions, she says ''the next HD channels will not be music channels. Main entertainment channels are our focus because they're mainstream channels, so the likelihood of an M-Net Action or M-Net Series, yes. Also, the majority of the content that's on those channels now are produced in HD.''
''We're probably going to do four more HD channels up to 2012 after M-Net HD (DStv 170) becomes a full HD simulcast channel in April 2011, and if we can, we will do more,'' says Aletta Alberts.
