24 - All Eight Days in HD on DirecTV

DirecTV is turning to Jack Bauer to help promote its upcoming original drama series Rogue.

DirecTV's Audience Network will air for the first time in HD all eight seasons (192 episodes + a TV movie) of FOX's Kiefer Sutherland starrer starting Monday, January 7 at 8 pm.

The Golden Globe-winning, Emmy Award-winning series in real time, which co-starred Dennis Haysbert, Carlos Bernard, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Elisha Cuthbert, among others, will air commercial free Monday through Thursdays and help bolster DirecTV's upcoming original scripted drama Rogue, which will bow in 2013.

Patty Ishimoto, VP entertainment at DirecTV and GM of the Audience Network, said : "24 perfectly complements our current stable of critically acclaimed, award-winning dramas, such as Friday Night Lights and Damages, and our upcoming series, Rogue. 24 is a unique series presented in an unparalleled format that had viewers constantly on the edge of their seats. We are excited to provide our viewers with the opportunity to rediscover it as it was meant to be seen : unedited, commercial free and in HD".

Rogue stars Thandie Newton as an emotionally conflicted undercover detective tormented by the possibility that her own actions led to her son's death. The series will bow in summer 2013 on the Audience Network.

DirecTV also broadcast imported series such as Call Me Fitz, Hit & Miss, Underbelly and The Slap.

Source.

In order to have finished by next summer, they will have to air 2 episodes of 24 each night, meaning 8 episodes a week, thus one season airs in 3 weeks. So it means they will need 24 weeks to broadcast the entire series.

But there's also 24 : Redemption, the 90-minute season 7 prequel. So that it doesn't mess up their programming, I assume they will air it the day after episodes 6.23/6.24 (a Friday), or the day before episodes 7.01/7.02 (a Sunday).

Tentative schedule :

Season 1 : January 7 - January 24.
Season 2 : January 28 - February 14.
Season 3 : February 18 - March 7.
Season 4 : March 11 - March 28.
Season 5 : April 1 - April 18.
Season 6 : April 22 - May 9.
Redemption : May 10 or May 12 ?
Season 7 : May 13 - May 30.
Season 8 : June 3 - June 20.

Rogue (10 episodes) : Summer 2013.

If I'm not mistaken, this will be the first time seasons 1, 2 & 3 of 24 are presented in high definition !

It means that HD masters do exist, therefore making me hope for a beautiful Complete Series Blu-ray set coming in the second semester of 2013. Thus far, only seasons 7 and 8 are available on Blu-ray.