Showtime to Launch Dolby Digital Sound on All Channels

Showtime Networks Inc. plans to use Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound on all 32 of its SD and HDTV channels throughout the count.

Dolby Digital 5.1 offers enhanced sound by delivering five discrete, full-fidelity (3 Hz/20,000 Hz) audio channels plus a low-frequency effects channel. Viewers with Dolby Digital audio receivers can recreate the same audio environment at home that is used in many movie theatres.

Showtime is making the deployment in order to take advantage of consumer interest in higher-quality sound for television; more than 30 million households have Dolby-capable DVD players and 10 million homes have set-top boxes capable of outputting Dolby Digital 5.1 via DBS and/or digital cable. Showtime plans to begin promoting the audio format's availability on-air this month to make viewers more aware of the technology's availability for programming.