High-definition TBS feed should please Red Sox fans
Comcast Corp. is giving Red Sox fans a bonus next week, adding the TBS network to its high-definition lineup on Tuesday, a day before Major League Baseball's playoffs start.
TBS signed a seven-year deal with Major League Baseball last year, for a reported $110 million annually, to broadcast the first round of the playoffs and share the second round of the playoffs with the Fox network, which will continue to air the World Series.
TBS began offering a high-definition channel to cable systems in September. Comcast, the nation's largest cable system and the dominant system in Eastern Massachusetts, had not yet picked up the signal.
TBS HD will appear on channel 831 for Comcast subscribers. It is among several high-definition channels Comcast is adding this month. CNN HD will appear on Comcast channel 842 on Tuesday. Comcast also will add high-definition feeds for the USA Network and the History Channel before the end of the month, said the company's regional vice president, Paul D'Arcangelo.
DirecTV, a Comcast rival, has said that it will add 100 new HD channels by year-end. The move by the satellite TV provider is a challenge to cable companies, which can't offer as many high-definition channels because of limited bandwidth. Comcast offers 27 channels in high definition and more than 150 hours of high-definition programming through its On Demand service.
D'Arcangelo said the addition of more high-definition channels is not a response to Comcast's rival.
"I don't think it's playing into the mix at all," he said. "They have to leverage their opportunity. We focus on what we have to offer, which is a whole suite of high-definition options."
A DirecTV spokesman said TBS HD would be added to the satellite service's lineup on channel 247 this week. Subscribers who pay $9.99 per month for DirecTV's high-definition package, which is a cost added to their normal packages, will automatically get the channel.
Sports programming is one of the biggest reasons consumers buy HDTV sets. That spending has benefited cable and satellite services, which get more revenue from high-definition subscribers than from analog ones.
Access to HD programming on Comcast requires a digital set-top box at a monthly cost of $5. Of Comcast's 24.1 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter, 13.6 million subscribed to digital services, such as high-definition channels or digital video recorders.
Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com. 