DISH Network Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH), the nation's third largest pay-TV provider and the digital transition leader, today announced the addition of high definition local channels in seven markets: Abilene, Texas (KTAB CBS Ch. 32 and KRBC NBC Ch. 9); Joplin, Mo. (KODE ABC Ch. 12 and KSNF NBC Ch. 16); Little Rock, Ark. (KARK NBC 4); Louisville, Ky. (WDRB FOX Ch. 41); Springfield, Mo. (KOLR CBS Ch. 10 and KSFX FOX Ch. 27); Wichita Falls, Texas (KFDX NBC Ch. 3 and KJTL FOX Ch. 18); and Wilkes Barre, Penn. (WYOU CBS Ch. 22 and WBRE NBC Ch. 28). DISH Network(R) now offers local channels in 90 markets reaching 78 percent of U.S. TV households.

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As a Dish subscriber in the metro New Orleans market [approaching 1.5 million], it amazes me that places like Wichita Falls,
Abelene, or Little Rock are given the locals in hd and we are not! Direct TV has had the New Orleans hd channels for over two years!
Another puzzle is that Dish offers most of the Starz channels in hd, but only one Showtime and not its West Coast feed or The
Movie Channel. Go figure.

I have to agree with the previous poster. I live in the Salinas/Monterey area in California, and as of two days ago we now have (not all) local channels in HD. You would have thought they would work on getting the larger metro areas set before they got to ones like ours.

Since I've been receiving my locals - in HD - via an external antenna for as long as I've had an HD receiver, I wasn't all that anxious in the first place. What I found, though, is I'm now capable of recording two local channels in HD at the same time, where, in the past, I was only able to record one in HD from my antenna and the other in SD. The bummer, though, is they haven't included the local PBS station in HD - and I record/watch lots of programs on PBS. Nor, now that I think of it, have they included the secondary digital output from three of the four broadcasters. Channel 46, KION TV (CBS), has on its "02" digital stream the CW. It isn't HD, but it's digital, and it looks relatively good, but it wasn't picked up by Dish. The same goes with Channel 8 (NBC Weather Plus on "02") and Channel 25 (three, total, digital streams), which is PBS and not included at all.