Reader Mr. Awesome writes:

I just got some taped voicemail message from the company that installed my DirecTV last year.. Something about having to install some sort of converter by Sept. 1 in order to keep receiving HD signals… have you heard anything about this?

We hadn’t, so we asked DirecTV what the deal was. We suspected that it may have something to do with the new HD channels that are due in September, and it does. Robert from DirecTV tells us:

You may have heard we’re rolling out up to 100 new HD national HD channels by year end. These channels will be broadcast from a new satellite that is launching July 6 and will be operational in September. Because the new HD programming (and some existing HD programming) will be broadcast from next-generation satellites, using state-of-the-art video compression and at different frequencies from our regular programming, compatible HD equipment is needed. Many of our customers already have this equipment (H-20, HR20 and Ka/ku-band dish) – we’ve been distributing it for well over a year and a half now – but for those who don’t, we are contacting them to make sure they’re ready (ie they have all the right equipment) for the DIRECTV HD expansion in the fall. They can go to directv.com for more information. Hope that’s helpful.

Ah, mystery solved. Will this affect many of you?

(Photo: cmorran123)

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