Comcast: More Philly Sports In HD, Please

Being a Philadelphia sports fan is a challenge. In addition to suffering through some really bad teams and having our hearts broken by some really good ones ( i.e Super Bowl XXXIV as the latest example), we have also had to suffer from one of the worst facilities in the history of sport, the concrete donut formerly known as Veteran’s Stadium. While we now have great venues for all sports and some good teams, the City has still been without a professional sports champion for 25 years.

I know you are wondering what this has to do with high-def. Well, it has to do with the failure of Comcast Sportsnet in Philadelphia to deliver the road games of the various teams in high def. Presently, only the home games of the Phillies, Sixers and Flyers are delivered in HD. The production quality of these games is outstanding, delivering clear and sharp pictures with perfect color accuracy and great 5.1 audio. No complaints there at all. However, other than an occasional game or two, the road games are all standard definition and look absolutely terrible. Why not deliver all the games in HD? The answer is probably cost in addition to the dismal history of the teams themselves. Simply put, maybe if we had winning teams, all the games would be in HD, regardless of the increased costs.

I must say that I look on with envy at the other markets where all the games are delivered in HD. The most notable is Boston where all the games of the Red Sox and Bruins have been in HD on NESN. Even the pre-season Red Sox games are in HD for crying out loud! Now that the Celtics look like a challenger for the NBA title, Comcast has announced that all games this season will be in HD. Take a look also at YES. All the Yankees game will be in HD this season. The same is true in Cleveland for the Indians. Ditto the Mariners in Seattle and the Padres in San Diego. Why not in Philadelphia? Why must we be treated as second class citizens in regards to HD? After all, the Phillies did win the NL East last year? What does it take to get all the games in HD for all the teams, starting with the Phillies? Must all the teams win the championship? Why should Comcast make an exception to their present policy in Boston for Celtics road games and leave us in Philadelphia with standard definition garbage? Aren’t we as passionate about our sports as those in Boston, even more so? Why the slap in the face from the hometown Comcast team?

How about being ahead of the curve in Philadelphia for a change. Why does Philadelphia always have to be behind the curve? It seems the last time we were ahead of the curve in Philadelphia was in 1776. Let’s get on the stick CSN. Let’s do all games, home and road in HD. The digital switch is set for February 19, 2009. IMHO, no later than that date, standard definition production of all televised sporting events should be a thing of the past. All games should be shot in HD and uplinked that way to production studios like the one under the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. It is there where a network such as CSN should be able to take the HD feed and do a center cut which they can down rez in 4 x 3 for their SD channel if they must to satisfy their ever dwindling SD audience. Given the HD production facilities available in each market for HD, there is no reason other than pure economics (i.e cheapness) for the all games not to be offered in HD. If it is good enough for Boston, New York, Cleveland, Seattle and San Diego, why not for Philadelphia? Get with it CSN and offer all games in HD, even the PAC-10 games which are shot in HD and offered in HD that you only show in SD.

By no means do I just wish to single out Comcast Sportsnet in this regard. I use them as the lead for this piece as I reside in the Philadelphia area. This should apply to all sports networks across the country. Let this serve as a call to arms across the land to eliminate non HD feeds of all live sports programming. Even at ESPN, they are still showing major college basketball games in SD only on their HD channels. That should end and should end now. The same is true for NBC and CBS and any other sports network you can name. Any network that offers live sports programming and has an HD channel should show all their games in HD. There is no time like the present!

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