Picture This: HD Buyers Get Set, Not HD Service

As the holiday season sets in and analysts wonder how the economy will affect the purchase rate of high-definition sets, new research shows that many recent buyers have not bothered to sign up for HD programming.

Some 12% of U.S. homes have bought an HD set in the past year, but 41% of those have not signed up with an operator to receive the pristine channels, reports Frank N. Magid Associates. Up to 80% of those who have owned HD sets for several years have started receiving HD, Magid said.

Magid found that 41% of owners of HD-capable sets "do not believe HD services are worth the required fees, 30% feel they don't have it in the budget after buying the HDTV set itself and 18% do not feel there are enough channels available in high definition to make arrangements worthwhile."

But the consumers' perceptions could be chalked up to lack of awareness. Depending on circumstances, Comcast and DirecTV offer some HD channels free. And they promote the mass of HD channels they are rapidly adding.

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Maryann Baldwin, vice president at Magid Media Futures, said the "majority of consumers have the arrangements they need to continue receiving local broadcast television channels following the digital transition [in February]," but not the feeds from cable networks.

"We believe that many of these HD service rejecters believe they will automatically start receiving their programming in high-definition concurrent with the digital broadcast transition," she said. "Which, of course, is an incorrect notion."

Overall, Magid reported that 32% of U.S. homes have at least one HD-capable set, and 64% of those get high-definition programming (23 million homes).

Magid said its results show that cable and satellite operators "have tremendous HD customer acquisition opportunities."

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