MTV: What happened to HD music videos?

MTV used to be the leader in music videos, and at one time was a true pioneer in the medium. No longer, we say.

Look at MTV’s treatment of HD, for example. Why don’t they (or VH1 HD as well) ever air simulcast HD music videos? It would be a shock to learn they actually still aired music videos, many aren’t in HD at the same time as their SD brethren, and that’s pretty sad indeed.

MTV steadfastly refuses to release any real details of precisely which shows will be broadcast in high definition and at the exact times, and their Palladia channel has just become an endless loop of the same 12 concerts over and over again.

Even YouTube is ahead of MTV in terms of HD music videos, which is a crying shame given what MTV meant to the medium at one time. Hopefully, they get their act together soon.

Stepping Up: AT&T adds 6 new MTV-based channels to their U-verse packages

More HD channel choice is a rallying cry we’ve been shouting for awhile now, and some companies are really listening (and some aren’t, as we’ve reported). AT&T has started to listen, adding 6 new HD channels to their U-Verse packages.

The channels: MTV HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD, Nickelodeon HD, COMEDY CENTRAL HD and Spike HD add up to lots of music and entertainment in HD, which always sets our pulse to racing.

Hopefully other companies sit up and take notice, while AT&T now has packages offering over 100 HD channels, which should bring in a few customers, we would think. We’ll keep an eye on other companies and see how they respond to this shot over the bow aimed at Comcast, DirecTV and other providers.