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ABC Family posts

Disney grabs a piece of Hulu

Just as we'd heard, Disney has worked out a deal with Hulu that includes taking a piece of the streaming video site, joining NBC Universal, News Corporation and Providence Equity Partners as owners and bringing Disney TV shows and movies to the site. Expect Lost, Desperate Housewives, Greek, General Hospital and the like so show up after the deal closes, no word on any delay periods and the only content not mentioned in the deal appears to be ESPN related properties. Also sadly missing from the announcement? Any word of increased HD streaming on Hulu, lets hope they take a page from ABC.com and get right on that.

DirecTV delivers 31 new HD channels -- kind of

DirecTV HDWhen DirecTV recently promised it'd have 130 HD channels on August 14th, we have to say this isn't exactly what we had in mind. What we expected was 31 new HD channels that would match the lineup that Dish recently revealed, but what we got was 4 real HD channels (Planet Green HD, ABC Family, Showtime Showcase HD, Showtime Extreme HD), 12 HD regional sports networks and 18 HD PPV channels. Sure, technically this is 31 new HD channels, but what about; Travel Channel HD, Outdoor Channel 2 HD, a whole slew of HBO and Cinemax HD channels, and finally all the Starz and Encore channels? According to DirecTV, all the HD PPV channels are simply place holders until the rest are brought online, but even with that excuse, this is just yet another reason why we take DirecTV's press releases with a grain of salt.

The Middleman throws broadcast flag on ABC Family


Sheesh, again? Not even a month after the collective HTPC community begrudgingly forgave Microsoft / NBC / whomever for throwing up the broadcast flag on select NBC programs, we've got yet another instance of Media Center users being unable to record a (late) primetime show. Reports around the web are suggesting that ABC Family's The Middleman threw the flag on a number of systems -- not just Vista -- and it's hard to say right now who is at fault. TVSquad's Brett Love had no issues capturing the show in HD and SD via his cable company-provided HD DVR, thus he's guessing the finger of blame is pointing in the general direction of Redmond. So, what gives? Will users continue to see these things followed by a quiet apology, or will the kinks really be ironed out so our perfectly legal time-shifting can resume?

Comcast bringing ABC Family HD / Disney Channel HD to Seattle market

We know, it's growing harder and harder to wait for the half dozen new HD channels to hit Seattle, Washington on March 4th, but maybe this will make things easier (or not). Reportedly, Comcast is getting set to toss in two more high-def options on that fateful day: Disney Channel HD and ABC Family HD. Unfortunately, we've no idea if these two will spread to any other Comcast markets, but there's no harm in hoping, eh?

[Thanks, Daniel H.]

DirecTV to carry four new HD Disney owned channels in 2008

Disney ChannelWhile they can hardly count these towards the 100 they promised for this year, there is no doubt DirecTV knows that when you are making deals; think long term. Starting in early 2008 ESPNEWS HD will launch as a 24 hour HD simulcast of ESPNEWS when the new studio is complete and will be carried by DirecTV. DirecTV will also carry ABC Family HD, Disney Channel HD, and Toon Disney HD, also released sometime in 2008. These will be the first family oriented HD channels as well as the first 24 news channel to go HD assuming CNN or someone else doesn't beat them to it.

[Via DBSTalk.com]




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