Audio Video News

Surround sound used to be a rare experience available only in the best commercial theaters and the most exotic home theaters.

Now it's everywhere, and growing fast. During the 1999–2000 broadcasting season, only 180 programs were offered with multichannel sound. That number increased to over 300 for the current season, including the 2002 Super Bowl broadcast by Fox, according to a recent announcement from Dolby Laboratories.

In January 2001, 690 of the 1663 terrestrial TV stations in the US were broadcasting in stereo, according to the 2001 Broadcasting & Cable yearbook. Many are now making the move to 5.1-channel sound, at least on a part-time basis. By early 2002, approximately 120 of 249 terrestrial digital TV stations were delivering 5.1-channel surround sound, Dolby stated. The previous year, only 90 of 177 stations were doing so.

Direct broadcast satellite services EchoStar and DirecTV also offer extensive programming in surround sound—including movies and made-for-TV productions from HBO, Showtime, and Starz! HBO began Dolby Digital 5.1 programming on its primary channel last July, after offering it initially through its HDTV service. Presently, Showtime has four weekly series in 5.1, with 26 surround-sound movies scheduled for the season.

There are now almost 3500 DVD titles available with soundtracks encoded for Dolby Digital 5.1. Digital Theater Systems (DTS) 5.1 titles total more than 10% of that, with 395 DTS titles available as of this past January.

The availability of digital television with surround sound is also driving subscriptions to broadband cable services, according to Dolby. In the past year, the number of households subscribing to digital cable increased from 3 million to 9 million. Many of those were upgrades rather than new subscriptions. The San Francisco–based technology licensing company estimates that more than 9 million US households were equipped with Dolby Digital 5.1 home receivers at the end of 2001.