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When high definition television was a novelty, there was just one network that specialized in showing off what digital HD could do for television viewing: Mark Cuban’s HDNet. Broadcasting exclusively in 1080i High Definition, HDNet featured prominently in television showrooms and HD-capable homes, showing a mix of sports, movies, documentaries, specials and current events programming in crystal clarity.
It was also a novelty in that it had no direct affiliations with either a movie studio or a cable television company. That independence (and a desire to be included on standard HD tiers and not ‘mini-pay‘), has proved costly for Cuban’s venture, celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. HDNet is in a unique position of finding itself off of an increasing number of cable providers’ lineups.
The latest: Rogers Cable, who has told subscribers it intends to drop the channel Nov. 1.
The cable company did not explain why it was planning to remove the channel, but it is hardly alone. Bell dropped the network last December. In the United States, HDNet has lost lucrative carriage agreements with Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cox Cable, Mediacom, RCN, and MetroCast Cablevision.
It is rare for cable operators to sever relationships with networks, except for brief periods during contract renewal talks. But they make an exception for Mark Cuban’s networks, even if it means replacing HDNet programming with live cattle auctions.
Not a surprise that we are seeing such an innovative channel like HDNet get dropped by players like Rogers. HDNet is a non-commercial channel. One of the many things that makes it attractive to viewers like me, who are tired of the repetitive drivel of commercials that attempt to sell us what we don’t need, want, or desire. Recently, it has been noted that Rogers is overlaying their Fan590 and Talk640 commercial bits over top of HDNet self promotion spots. What would have been next: full ads overlaid during HDNet programming notes; infomercials over the HDNet feed? I will miss… Read more »
I’m gonna meander off topic here: I think Rogers reached a new level of stupid with the Swiss Chalet Rotisserie Channel. Here in Rochester, N.Y., we had a Swiss Chalet for decades but the closed a few years back. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t horrible, it merely was. Watching chickens spin on a cable channel 24/7 would cause me to cancel. I feel much the same about Tim Hortons, which Canadians seem to love. These are opening EVERYWHERE in western New York. They are becoming as ubiquitous as McDonalds. I love Canada — we took our first vacation in 20+… Read more »
It’s okay Phillip. I’m Canadian and I don’t get the Tim Horton’s mystique either. I must be immune to whatever the addictive substance is that they put in their crappy coffee. As for the dropping of HDNet, I can only assume it’s because viewership has gone down. Other than their Sunday programming, there hasn’t been much to keep me watching. Drinking made easy is just stupid and GGW is about as sexist as TV programming can be and still be on free TV. I know it’s all the rage these days but MMA is just a more barbaric form of… Read more »
The only thing I watched regularly on HDNet was Dan Rather. Inexplicably, they used to run an hour of Hogan’s Heroes every morning… hardly an HD production and now so politically incorrect it rarely shows up anywhere. It was one of my guilty pleasures though. As Major Hochstetter used to say…. “Baaaaaa!”
Actually, HDNET viewership rose, so much so that it was tomuch for Rogers. They put AD to a non AD channel, 680 News commercial.
FInally just so you know, Ontario is the capital meca of MMA in the world. We are the number 1 marked for MMA. Rogers controls the UFC viewership to some extent in canada.
Go figure.
I myself for one is to angry to even try to coprehend this….
I called to ask why it was being dropped. No answer of course. I also inquired as to what will happen with the package the channel came with. It was HDNet, HIFI (formerly TreasureHD), Oasis, eqHD, and radX. I was then offered a refund on the total package cost ($5.99). Basically $1.99 off.
So, it appears that they are not automatically refunding people for the channels demise, but waiting for people to realize they are losing the channel and then to request a refund.
If that is the case it is pathetic.
Front line reps rarely know. It could have been worse. You could have Time Warner down here in the States. We paid extra for HDNet and when they dumped it, they replaced it with the Smithsonian Network and RFD-TV, which shows hours of cattle auctions every Friday afternoon. Neither of those channels are worth the extra $$$ cable wants for the mini-pay tier that used to include HDNet. Most folks probably have no idea they are still paying for these channels, because TW calls it an “HD Tier” which they probably assume covers all of the HD channels they receive.… Read more »