• January 28, 2005

Desperate TV Watchers, your desire for ABC in high-definition via satellite television is about to be satisfied, as DirecTV is now offering ABC-HD programming, which gives the satellite television provider access to all four major networks.

Shows such as "Desperate Housewives," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and "Lost" are now going to be given a virtual makeover to eligible customers in the 10 markets in which ABC owns television stations, a DirecTV spokesman said.

The ABC HD feeds, from flagship stations WABC in New York and KABC in Los Angeles, will be available in Los Angeles; New York; Chicago; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Houston; Raleigh, N.C.; Fresno, Calif.; Flint, Mich.; and Toledo, Ohio.

Initially, customers in the Pacific and Mountain time zones will receive the West Coast feeds and those in the Central and Eastern times zones will receive the East Coast feeds, until local HD feeds are available in each of those markets.

Now that the agreement with ABC and the three other major nets has been wrapped up, DirecTV plans to concentrate on similar deals with smaller stations across the country, with the satellite system hoping to have "hundreds" of stations availing themselves of the HD format by year's end, a DirecTV spokesman said.