Time Warner Cable's New York City division has sprinted past Verizon's FiOS TV on high-definition tonnage, after the MSO recently launched more than 25 networks to bring the total unique HD channel offerings in the region to more than 150.
"Time Warner Cable now has the HD programming that matters most to New Yorkers, with all the HD games of all nine New York sports teams and NY1 in HD," Howard Szarfarc, executive vice president of TWC's NYC region, said in a statement.
In addition, Time Warner Cable touted the fact that its Start Over service, which lets subscribers tune in to HD shows and series already in progress and watch them from the beginning, is available on more than 25 HD channels in the New York City area.
Verizon, which currently offers 133 HD channels with FiOS TV in New York City, responded in a statement, "Time Warner Cable can make a claim of having a few more HD channels than Verizon FiOS, but our service still blows them out of the water with more VOD, more HD VOD, more interactive features, better picture quality, faster Internet speeds, the only place to get Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on TV -- the list goes on."
In addition, the cable operator's claim of having all nine New York sports teams in HD "is only possible because of an FCC loophole used by Cablevision [Systems] through which they share the HD feeds for some of these channels with their cable brethren, but withhold the channels from us," according to Verizon spokeswoman Heather Wilner. The telco is trying to force Cablevision to provide the HD versions of MSG Network and MSG Plus.
Time Warner Cable's recently launched HD channels include: CMT HD, Cooking Channel HD, CSPAN 2 HD, CSPAN 3 HD, Discovery Kids HD, DIY HD, EWTN HD, Fox Soccer HD, Galavision HD, Hallmark HD, Nat Geo Wild HD, Nick HD, TV Guide HD and VH1 HD.
TWC also has added four Big Ten HD spillover channels and Gol TV HD to the Sports Tier HD, and now offers Spanish-language versions of six HBO channels.
Time Warner Cable requires an HD digital converter to receive HD channels. Customers who have a TiVo DVR or other CableCard-based devices must obtain a free "tuning adapter" to receive the MSO's digital channels that are delivered via switched digital video.
Time Warner Cable's New York City Region serves more than 1.4 million customers in New York City's Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and western Brooklyn; Mt. Vernon, Hudson Valley (Orange, Sullivan, Ulster Counties and parts of Dutchess, Greene and Delaware counties) in New York; and Bergen and Hudson counties, New Jersey.
