Comcast’s lackluster HD offerings are offputting to consumers, which may explain why DirecTV had a better year, gaining 800,000 subscribers for the year, compared with a loss of 500,000 for Comcast, TVPredictions.com reports. Comcast decided to emphasize non-HD features such as fast Web access, but that has alienated its core audience of TV viewers who are craving more HD channels, the Web site says.
—Aimee Picchi