It might be a new year but it is the same old story.  DirecTV, which was hot out of the box when it came to HD channels, is still in front in a recent count.  The top satellite provider is capable of bringing 200 national high-defnintion channels following its launch of its eleventh, yes eleven, satellite DirecTV 12.  It will be operational in the early quarter of 2010 and right now, if you were to sign up for the highest DirecTV subscription, you would get 130 HD channels.  To put this into perspective, DirecTV has as many satellites in space as countries like Saudi Arabia, Australia, and South Korea.  That’s downright laughable how we Americans cannot live without our programming.

But, in order to bring us that many HD channels, there’s always a catch.  DirecTV notified customers last week that they will be raising package rates between $3-6 per month starting in February.  I guess that’s the price one pays for contributing to a company’s pursuit to put a satellite in space.  It is speculated that DirecTV is prepping a 3-D HD Channel with this new satellite but since the company is not hosting a press conference at CES, we’ll have to wait longer to find out.  To think in 2007, DirecTV threw down the HD gauntlet saying that they would deliver 100+ HD channels even though there weren’t high-def services at the time.  By saying that, they caused a trickle-down effect that we are all thankful for now.  I mean, I’m not the only person who can’t watch standard definition anymore.  I’ll watch a cooking show in HD before I watch 24 on standard Fox.  So keep it up DirecTV and happy new year to you guys.