Now that we all know at least four high-def stations are set to launch on the free-to-air Freeview HD service during 2009 - 2010, we have a feeling we'll see a whole host of newcomers joining the fold (or, at least we hope). As fate would have it, Discovery has decided that it'll launch its first FTA channel in the UK "early next year" after securing capacity on multiplex A, which is operated by ITV subsidiary SDN. Unfortunately, there's no sign of Discovery HD following suit, but surely it's not too far behind, right?

Looking to chime in on what kind of programming gets placed on any of Discovery Communications' many networks? No, we mean are you really looking to make an impact? If so, you can put your money where your mouth is now that the firm is listed on the NASDAQ. Yeah, it chose an odd and arguably terrible time in our history to go public, but it also ushered in a new corporate logo and website to fall more in line with that new Discovery HD logo that was unveiled this summer. It's hard to say if going public will have any immediate (and more importantly, visible) impact on programming, but if you're interested in getting involved, all the ticker details and whatnot are listed in the read link.

Just a few weeks later than the planned June 22nd date, Discovery HD has officially launched in Australia. This is just the officially-official announcement -- we wouldn't be surprised if the rollout actually started up on June 22 -- so we'd like to hear from Aussie readers in the comments below. Discovery certainly has some great content to offer up, but filling up a 24/7 schedule on the Foxtel HD+ service will be challenging. We're not complaining -- spreading the HD word always gets a thumbs up from us! Add in the Samsung/Foxtel HD+ promo and the Australian TiVos, and we're pretty sure there will be lots of HD grins going around in Oz.

While not the most impressive of additions, we're hearing that Charter is gearing up to bless subscribers in the Madison, Wisconsin area with a new pair of HD channels. Reportedly, messages are flying out to DVRs now informing customers that TLC HD and Discovery HD will be added on March 25th. Sadly, that means you've got quite awhile to sit around wishing these would go live, but at least you can go ahead and cancel any plans you may have had coming up on that fateful Tuesday, right?

[Thanks, Joe H.]

Yeah, we Americans were already quite envious of the Discovery HD lineup in Canada, but the Canucks are affirming said awesomeness in a newfangled survey polling viewers on which channels offered up the "best high-definition programming." Coming in only behind the nation's favorite TSN (a sports network, if you couldn't guess), Discovery HD was ranked as the best non-sports station for HD quality in the country. Furthermore, respondents aged 18 to 34 actually ranked Discovery HD above all other channels. We're envious, sure -- but we still love ya.

Over a year after Insight Communications launched its InsightDigital 2.0 service and threw in a trio of HD channels to boot, the cable company is now giving its loyal customers five more high-definition options along with the Digital 3.0 upgrade. Reportedly, users can now tune into Discovery, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel (TLC), TBS, National Geographic and yes, even the NFL Network in glorious HD. The Digital 3.0 package will automatically be available to digital subscribers at no extra cost, but it should be noted that Insight will raise prices in January. Additionally, the operator has nearly doubled its on-demand library and includes VOD channels for HOB, Starz, Showtime, Cinemax and The Movie Channel, but we're still left with no word on any HD VOD plans.

Discovery's original HD network, HD Theater -- formerly known as Discovery HD Theater -- has always been one of our favorite channels, so anytime we hear that Discovery is going to find a way to bring us more HD, we are thrilled. Discovery's CEO David Zaslav, told TV Week that by getting carriage on these two new channels -- that he failed to name -- now, would be like getting "beach front property," because they'd be providing seven of the thirty or forty HD channels most people have. As much as we love the original HD network from Discovery, we have a hard time getting too excited, after seeing how much stretch-o-vision is on four out of five of the so-called HD channels they have now.

[Via SatalliteGuys.us]

There are some things that we just love to be wrong about. We theorized about why Verizon's FIOS only added one new HD channel in six months, while other providers were adding them in record numbers. Shortly after, Verizon announced major HD expansion plans for 2008 and now customers are reporting on AVS, that Discovery HD is showing up on channel 846. Oddly enough, there isn't any guide data yet, we'd guess they're waiting for the official launch. At this point it's hard to tell which markets are the lucky ones, but we can tell you that it's on in at least Tampa, Northern Virgina, and South Jersey. There have been a few rumors about five new HD channels being added by the end of '07, but up till now we haven't had any reason to believe them. As much as we love new HD programming, we'd rather have a different channel, based only the fact that most of Discovery's HD programming is already available on HD Theater and the most of the rest is upconverted and stretched.

If you're like us, you can't get enough HD programming and when Discovery announced four new HD simulcasts of their popular cable channels, we got excited. Of course our excitement was quickly crushed when our provider didn't announce a carriage agreement. At this point most people have the choice to switch to Dish, wait for DirecTV to bring DirecTV 10 online or forget about it till their provider comes around. Well, the time has come for select Cox cable subscribers as they've got the deal done and will be launching all four new channels in select Cox markets around the country. Most of you Cox subscribers know who the lucky ones are, if your local Cox area isn't bandwidth challenged, you should see these new HD channels popping up shortly. And no, they don't plan to get rid of Discovery HD Theater.

DirecTV and cable are busy arguing over who will add the most HD channels, meanwhile, DISH Network keeps racking 'em up. As if they weren't already the undisputed HD provider, now they have announced eight new regional HD sports channels that will launch tomorrow and seven new national HD channels in Auguest and September including; The History Channel HD and Discovery HD -- not to be confused with Discovery HD theater. Now, most of these channels require the latest MPEG4 equipment to enjoy, and we're not exactly sure what day you can expect to see the rest of these to pop up in your guide, but there is no doubt that anyone serious about HD, has to consider DISH as their provider.

The full list of new HD channels after the break.

Read -- DISH Press release
Read -- Satelliteguys.us retailer chat coverage

High-Def Digest just released their review of both the HD DVD and Blu-ray version of Planet Earth. The video quality and audio quality sections of the review for both are identical, because both discs use the same VC1 encode and DD 5.1 audio (488kbps). According to Hi-Def Digest this is a must owned demo disc for both formats and that other than the normal low light artifacts that video is known for, the video quality is some of the best they have seen for either format. The audio on the other hand leaves something to be desired, but isn't bad. The good news is that neither format showed the type of compression artifacts that we have some to live with from sat or cable and that both versions outshine the broadcast version you may have already seen.

Read HD DVD review
Read Blu-ray review

What we're watching: Discovery's much-anticipated Planet Earth series kicks off tonight, and features some of the best footage your HDTV is likely to see of hard to reach corners of the world. The L Word season finale is also tonight on Showtime.

Our traditional high-def listings continue below.

Set those DVRs now for Planet Earth, Sunday night on Discovery HD Theater. Seriously, go; we'll wait... We know that you probably won't want to miss Desperate Housewives live and whatever other random stuff comes on Sunday night, but you are not going to want to miss the three hours of Planet Earth. This is a five-week special that is going to attempt to teach you almost everything Terra Firma has to offer. Sunday's first hour is going to take viewers "Pole to Pole" showing almost everything in between. Now like we said, this might be one of those programs that you save for a rainy day, but your HDTV will appreciate the amazing eye candy.

What we're watching: No question what we're watching tonight, Panic in the Ring of Fire. Filmed during and after the devastating Yogyakarta earthquake earlier this year by a Discovery HD crew in the area, it aired in Canada just a few days later but not here in the U.S. until now. If getting a high-def look at such a tragic natural disaster is a bit much, there's also a good Sunday Night Football matchup between the Chargers and the Broncos, not to mention Die Hard on Cinemax.

Our traditional high-def listings continue below.

Has anyone noticed something a bit different about the makeup of Discovery HD Theater? It used to be that they only had HD content and nothing less. Then all of a sudden they started showing Bose commercials that were not HD. I thought to myself, "OK, this is just Bose's marketing team at it again and trying to reach a high income market. That's OK." But then again today I noticed that there was more then just Bose. Delta airlines has a non-HD commercial now too.

Is Discovery HD Theater going to drop the "Theater" part? Currently they don't run any commercials throughout the entire main program then run one or two commercials, usually for themselves or Circuit City, then a "Short Topic" for about 10 minutes. Does the increase in the amount of non-HD ads indicate that they are going to start putting the normal commercial breaks into these programs?