In the U.S., there are 24 million households with HDTVs. Even so, in many cases, customers are still watching a lot of standard definition (SD) TV, and both content providers and carriers are scrambling to provide a satisfactory amount of HDTV, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

It’s well known that a lot of HDTV owners don’t know they need to subscribe to HD services or attach an antenna to their HDTV. Many others have been happy to simply use the HDTV for viewing DVDs. But for those who delve into HDTV with their eyes open, the picture is not as encouraging as it could be.

For example, in Denver, EchoStar offers 31 HD channels, DirecTV offers about a dozen, and Comcast about the same. Another factor in the past has been getting local channels in HD via satellite.

To help with the broadcast side, DirecTV has announced they they are planning to launch a new satellite and add about a 100 new HD channels "soon." The problem is, the HD versions of popular networks, like the USA, and The SciFi Channel, have been slow to convert. So filling those 100 slots might be problematic. "HD programs contain far more picture and audio information than regular programs, so they’re costlier to transmit and consume a great deal of bandwidth," Joyzelle Davis reported.

While DirecTV can launch more satellites, the cable companies are at somewhat of a technical disadvantage given the fixed bandwidth of the systems now in use. As a result, Comcast is experimenting with a system called "switched digital" in which the entire capacity of the cable is dedicated to just the channel being viewed.

Sports broadcasts are playing a key role in increasing HD content, but the studios are still sizing up the benefits and costs of converting many of their shows to HD.

Phillip Swann, president of TV Predictions, worries that shows that come late to the HD table will start to lose out. "A viewer who spends all of this money on a HD set and suddenly sees Deal or No Deal as this grainy old thing is going to be looking elsewhere for something else to watch," he said.