Under the new deal NBC and D* signed earlier this year, D* has the right to drop any programming that is 'underperforming'. Trio has very low vewer numbers and D* is seriously considering dropping them at year end.
According to my bill (which arrived over the weekend), Trio, along with FSN Chicago, are both being yanked at year's end. This is along with CNNfn/CNNI, which is set to go away tomorrow night.
Don't fret though. D* has added Indian-language, Vietnamese-language, and Italian-language channels in the past month to make up for it .
There have been rumors and rumors of rumors regarding new additions for us English-speakers but nothing concrete from D* (who is notoriously tight-lipped about channel additions until they happen).
As for the other part, NBC Universal has been very quiet about Trio and it's future. It did not include Trio among the networks that it has been touting in terms of upcoming programming, and if memory serves, they aren't even showcased on the NBC/U Media Village site where all the press releases and stuff goes.
So reading the writing on the wall, I'd say that Trio's days are numbered.
According to my bill (which arrived over the weekend), Trio, along with FSN Chicago, are both being yanked at year's end. This is along with CNNfn/CNNI, which is set to go away tomorrow night.
CNN announced that they were shutting down CNNfn/CNNi earlier this year. So those really have nothing to do with D*. Trio as far as I know is a D* decision. This is the first I've heard about FSN Chicago.
Supposedly after the NFL season is over, there is room for 3 or 4 new channels. Apparently, D* is not releasing the bandwidth from the channels reserved for the HD Sunday Ticket until the season's last game on 1/2/05.
Personally, I wouldn't bet on much new HD until the Spaceway birds are up and running.
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