Maybe it’s the award-winning journalism of “Dan Rather Reports” that draws you to HDNet. Or perhaps it’s the cheesecake of “Bikini Destinations.”
Whatever the attraction, “affluent high-definition premium subscribers with BIG HDTVs” are watching the HD-only network, according to the company’s pitch to advertisers.
Mark Cuban’s network delivers more original, high-definition programming than any other. The subscriber base has grown to nearly 15 million homes, and the assumption is the audience will continue to grow as high-def TV prices keep falling.
“We’re adding hundreds of thousands of homes every month,” HDNet general manager Phil Garvin said.
Each night’s programming fills a different niche: Tuesdays are for journalism with Rather and “World Report” doing 40 investigative pieces a year. Thursdays are for cheesecake. Sundays are all about concerts (tonight it’s Pink, live from London’s Wembley Arena). Mixed martial arts and wrestling take over on weekends. HDNet Movies, a separate channel available on fewer systems, offers films simultaneous with their release in theaters.
With 150 staffers, and with offices in New York, Dallas and L.A., HDNet has grown since its launch in 2001, when hi-def was an experimental luxury.
