SportsTime Ohio DirecTV HD - 96 is the Number

Following up on our earlier post about DirecTV offering local RSNs (regional sports networks) in HD...we have a time and a number for you if you're looking for the Cleveland Indians in HD on DirecTV.

The time? Tuesday night at 7:00 PM, when the Tribe takes on the New York Yankees on SportsTime Ohio.

The number? 96. As in channel 96 on DirecTV, if you already have the HDTV LIL (local-into-local) service for Cleveland.

We found the Indians/Yankees game for Tuesday night in the DirecTV local program guide for Northeast Ohio.


(UPDATE: 7/2/06 10:06 PM - We are reminded that the date for the first STO HD Indians game on DirecTV can't be any earlier than Tuesday, as Monday night's game is scheduled for WKYC/3.)

The DirecTV "HD local into local" service launched Wednesday of this week, and includes three of the four local "Big Four" network affiliates. It also requires new MPEG4 hardware...so if you're still using old equipment, you won't be able to get the HD locals via satellite. Since WKYC/3 is in the HD "LIL" package, DirecTV viewers so equipped will be able to watch the Monday night WKYC game.

OMW has read numerous reports from other markets where the HDTV sports network feeds were turned on during the day Saturday. The STO HD coverage only includes home games, so Cleveland won't see the Indians in HD (on the STO cable/satellite feed) via DirecTV until Tuesday night.

Now, there's a caveat here. Remember all the difficulty DirecTV viewers went through when SportsTime Ohio launched on the service? We can't guarantee that the same problem won't happen on Tuesday night, so get ready to call the company's customer service folks if there's a problem.

In theory, if you get the regular SD version of STO, you should get the HDTV feed - again, assuming you have the proper new equipment...