DirecTV announced today that approximately 30 new HD channels will be added beginning in May. The good news is that GolTV HD will be available. However, Fox Soccer Channel in HD and Fox Soccer Plus in HD were not included in the list.

This is frustrating news for soccer fans in the United States because GolTV only announced three weeks ago — on March 29, 2010 that they would be launching a HD channel this summer. And now the news has been released that GolTV is following through with their plans.

On the other hand, Fox had been discussing HD since the summer of 2009 and soccer fans had been led to believe that HD would be available as early as January 1, 2010. However, it wasn’t until February 10 when the first TV provider, DISH Network, made Fox Soccer Channel in HD available. As of press time, personalities on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus continue to plug that both channels are available in HD, but not one TV provider is showing Fox Soccer Plus in HD and the only ones showing FSC in HD is the aforementioned DISH Network and some Time Warner regional carriers. Technically both networks are being broadcasted in HD, but when only a relatively minor portion of the audience can watch the games in HD, you can see why it’s a frustrating experience for soccer fans in the United States.

At the same time, DISH Network doesn’t carry GolTV at all (even in SD), so there is no one TV provider in the United States who offers the complete experience for soccer fans.

What are your thoughts regarding the story? If you’re a DirecTV customer, are you considering moving to DISH Network? Or vice-versa?

In the meantime, read my related article, How to demand your TV provider adds Fox Soccer Plus or FSCHD.

As of press time, no TV provider is broadcasting Fox Soccer Plus in HD. Fox Soccer Plus is on DirecTV, DISH Network and Verizon FiOS, but each of the three channels are only showing the channel in SD.

But what would Fox Soccer Plus look like in HD if you could see it?

Thanks to an anonymous EPL Talk reader, here’s what it looks like. He was able to send us these screengrabs from Fox Soccer Plus’s distribution feed. He notes that “The quality is marginal as the backhaul feed from England was standard definition PAL > compressed down to 9 MHz bandwidth for satellite uplink across the pond > framerate conversion from PAL to NTSC somewhere in the food chain > upscaled to high definition 720p for FOX Soccer Plus distro.”

Nevertheless, it gives us a taste of what we can expect in the future whenever one of the TV providers in the United States broadcasts Fox Soccer Plus in HD.

If you want to tell your TV provider to get Fox Soccer Plus or Fox Soccer Plus in HD, be sure to take action with this helpful guide.

It’s one of the questions I get asked quite often. When will Fox Soccer Channel be available in high definition TV (HDTV)? Until now, there wasn’t a succinct answer, but we finally have good news. Fox Soccer Channel will be in HD by the end of 2010.

Multichannel News, a cable newsletter, broke the news that Fox’s television network group has decided to distribute its broadcast network and all of its cable services in high-definition within two years from now. Fox also plans on upgrading its infrastructure to double its satellite capacity.

This is wonderful news for soccer fans in North America. We got spoiled during Euro 2008 when all of the games on ESPN were in high definition. Once the change happens at Fox Soccer Channel, the only issue will be that not all of the programming is available in high definition. Some Premier League games are, but not all of them.

For Fox, the upgrade to HD will come as a significant cost. For example, its studio in Los Angeles is not wired for high definition, so the upgrades alone at its head office will be substantial.

With Fox making the move within the next two years to switch to high definition broadcasts, the pressure is now on Setanta Sports and GolTV to follow suit.

What do you think of the news, and what programming will you be looking forward to watching in high definition on Fox Soccer Channel? Click the comments link below and let us know.