EchoStar Communications Corp. continued its rollout of local high definition TV channels, launching the service in Kansas City and its 30 surrounding counties.

The rollout began in early February with the delivery of local HD channels in New York City. Last week, the company began offering local HD channels in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C. Dish now offers local HD channels in at least 15 markets, with more to come. The company expects to reach more than 50 percent of U.S. TV households with local HD channels by year-end.

Almost 40 percent of HDTV households do not subscribe to HD programming, according to Dish. To attract more viewers, Dish expanded its HD channel lineup earlier this year and launched the new DishHD programming packages that include new national HD networks such as ESPN2 HD and Universal HD, plus five new original VOOM HD channels.

EchoStar quoted a September 2005 projection from Kagan Research that there will be approximately 34 million HDTV households in the United States by the end of 2006, and that nearly 83 percent of all U.S. households will purchase an HDTV monitor by 2010.

Cities In Which Dish Network Offers Local HD Channels:
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Minneapolis
Nashville
New York City
Philadelphia
Salt Lake City
(Select areas) Nebraska
(Select areas) Wyoming
Washington, D.C.