A growing amount of 5.1-channel content is also available through digital-cable operators, satellite-TV operators and local DTV stations. The 5.1-channel soundtracks accompany digital standard-definition TV (SDTV) programs and high-definition TV (HDTV) programs, and they’re backed up with matrixed Dolby Surround for compatibility with older home theater systems.

Select content providers, including HBO and Starz!, deliver 5.1-channel surround with select SDTV and HDTV programs available to digital cable and satellite TV operators. Select broadcast-TV networks deliver 5.1 with their SDTV and HDTV programs to a growing number of local DTV affiliates.

In the satellite realm, DIRECTTV became the first satellite broadcaster to offer 5.1-channel surround in mid-1998 for its SDTV programs. Today, DIRECTTV and rival Dish Network deliver 5.1 with many SDTV and HDTV programs to a combined subscriber base that hit 24 million at the end of 2004.

About as many people receive their 5.1 fix through digital cable systems. As of September 2004, more than a third of U.S. cable customers, or about 24.3 million households, subscribed to digital cable service, according to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA). That’s up 13 percent from 21.5 million at the end of 2003’s third quarter and up 151 percent from year-end 2000’s 9.7 million (www.ncta.com).

NCTA’s digital-subscriber numbers include HD subscriptions. NCTA doesn’t break out HD subscribers separately, but estimates by various market-research companies put the HD-cable subscriber base at anywhere from 1 million to 1.9 million at the end of 2004.

Cable Expands SD, HD Footprint
Digital cable’s potential is far greater than the subscriber numbers indicate, given that digital cable is available to almost every home passed by cable service, NCTA statistics show. As of September 2004, almost all 109.6 million TV-equipped U.S. households could subscribe to digital cable service if they so desired.

As of September 2004, the association explained that more than 95 million TV households, or 88 percent of the 108 million households passed by cable, were passed by a broadband cable service, which offers digital cable, video-on-demand (VOD), and high-speed Internet access. That number, however, doesn’t account for the many small cable operators that offer digital video but haven’t expanded their systems’ capacity to offer such broadband services as VOD or Internet access, NCTA explained.

Once those cable operators are included, 99 percent of all homes passed by a cable system could get digital video from their cable operator, Kagan Research said.

For now, digital cable's SD footprint is bigger than digital cable’s HD footprint, but not for long. HD cable went online for the first time in 2002 in a limited number of markets, but by January 1, 2005, it was available to 92 million households, up 131 percent since December 1, 2003, NCTA said. By January 2005, 84 percent of all 109.6 million U.S. TV households could subscribe to cable HD service. That’s up from 65 percent at the end of 2004.

At least one cable operator in every one of the top 100 cable markets offered HD by September 2004, NCTA said. All told, cable HD was available in 177 of 210 cable markets in September 2004, up from 143 markets at the end of 2003.

Cable, Satellite SD 5.1 Content

What are cable and satellite subscribers hearing in 5.1 surround? Plenty.

Over their SD feeds to cable and satellite operators, multiple content providers deliver a growing amount of 5.1 programming. The providers include Home Box Office, Showtime Networks and the Starz Encore Group.

Among the 14 SD channels operated by Starz Encore in early 2005, for example, three deliver select content in 5.1. They are Starz! east and west feeds, Starz! Theater east and west (renamed Starz Edge in March 2005), and Encore east and west. In 2004, the percentage of Starz! airtime delivered in 5.1 hit an average of 49 percent each day, up from 2003’s 40 percent average. The primetime average hit 82 percent, up from the year ago 65 percent.

Starz! Theater content was available in 5.1 an average 62 percent of the time each day in 2004 and an average 81 percent of the time during primetime. Encore held steady at an average 25 percent and 44 percent, respectively, in 2004.

Through its seven HBO-branded SD channels and its HBO on Demand service, HBO was delivering 5.1 over its main HBO channel in early 2005. The 5.1 broadcasts over the main HBO channel accounted for 53 percent of the channel’s total airtime between July and December 2004 and 32 percent of its totals titles.

In early 2005, HBO also delivered 5.1 through its SD Cinemax on Demand channel but not over its eight Cinemax-branded SD channels, including MoreMax and ThrillerMax.

For its part, Showtime Networks delivers 5.1 through all of its more than 32 SD and HD channels. The 5.1 channels included Showtime, Showtime HDTV, The Movie Channel (TMC), TMC HDTV, Flix, Showtime Too, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Next, Showtime Women, Showtime Familyzone, TMC Extra, Showtime on Demand, TMC on Demand, Showtime PPV and Sundance Channel.

Besides delivering SD video in 5.1, digital-cable and satellite operators are delivering a growing amount of HD content in 5.1.

In 2003 and 2004, the number of HD channels available through cable operators and satellite TV companies grew dramatically. By September 2004, 17 content services were available in HD over cable systems, according to NCTA. They were Cinemax HDTV, Comcast SportsNet HD, Discovery HD Theater, Encore HD, ESPN HD, HBO HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, INHD, INHD2, MSG Networks in HD, NBA TV, Showtime HD, Starz! HD, The Movie Channel HD, TNT HD and Universal HD.

Among cable's premium content providers, HBO was the first to launch HD service in March 1999, and Showtime was the first to offer 5.1 with HD service beginning in 2000. Today, most providers of HD content to satellite and cable TV operators have made a major commitment to the 5.1-channel audio format.

Showtime, for example, claims that most of its HD content is delivered in 5.1. For its part, HBO said its Cinemax HD channel delivered 49 percent of its airtime in 5.1 during the July to December 2004 period, accounting for 23 percent of its total titles. During that time, HBO HD delivered 51 percent of its air-time in 5.1, accounting for 29 percent of its titles.

For its part, Discovery HD Theater delivered 65 percent of its programming hours in 2004 in 5.1, up from 45 percent in 2003.

Launched in late 2003, the Starz! HD channel already was delivering 76 percent of its primetime hours in 5.1 by early 2004. For all of 2004, the primetime percentage rose to a monthly average of 89 percent. For the average full day in 2004, Starz! HD programming was available an average of 60 percent of the time in 5.1.

Encore HD, also owned by Starz Entertainment Group, began delivering 5.1 surround in early 2004, and for the full year, it transmitted 59 percent of its primetime programming in 5.1 and 38 percent of its all-day programming.

In select markets, HD-cable subscribers can use their HD cable box to tune into the 5.1-channel programs of local HDTV stations. By January 2005, cable operators were rebroadcasting the digital signals of 504 local DTV stations, up from 190 on June 1, 2003. Most of those stations were delivering HD, and if they were broadcasting in 5.1, the cable operators were passing the 5.1 signal through to their subscribers, the NCTA said.

Even if households don’t subscribe to digital cable or satellite service, they can enjoy digital SD and HD content through a growing number of local digital TV (DTV) stations, many of which deliver digital 5.1-channel surround (also backed up in Dolby Surround).

By January 2005, the overwhelming majority of local full-power commercial and public TV stations were broadcasting DTV signals in either SD or HD resolution, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) said. Out of 1,730 stations, the number of local TV stations that made the digital transition hit 1,344 in 211 markets that serve 99.95 percent of the country’s more than 106 million TV households, said the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). That’s up from only 768 stations in 184 markets in February 2003, the organization said.

A total of 90 percent of TV households could receive DTV broadcasts from five or more stations in January 2005, and 71 percent of those households could receive digital broadcasts from eight or more stations, NAB adds.

Many of these stations are transmitting 5.1 soundtracks; some transmit matrixed surround.