Washington, D.C.
(February 2, 2007)
--
A top CBS executive says the network's HDTV picture
quality is diminished when a local station decides to
add a subchannel to its digital feed.
Known as multicasting, many local stations today are broadcasting multiple feeds instead of just one high-def channel via their digital spectrum.
The extra feeds, which often include local weather channels, splits the digital transmission into parts, thereby possibly diluting the high-def picture quality. The local stations hope the extra channels will generate more advertising.
But Ken Aagaard, CBS Sports' senior vice president of operations and production services, tells the Syracuse Post-Standard that his network's engineers believe any digital subchannel takes away from the HD quality.
Known as multicasting, many local stations today are broadcasting multiple feeds instead of just one high-def channel via their digital spectrum.
The extra feeds, which often include local weather channels, splits the digital transmission into parts, thereby possibly diluting the high-def picture quality. The local stations hope the extra channels will generate more advertising.
But Ken Aagaard, CBS Sports' senior vice president of operations and production services, tells the Syracuse Post-Standard that his network's engineers believe any digital subchannel takes away from the HD quality.
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Aagaard also acknowledged that TV providers often fail to maintain the network's HD picture quality in their transmissions.
"We do as much as we can. But when it gets to affiliates or DIRECTV, or when it gets to some of the cable guys, it's hard to say what happens," Aagaard told the newspaper.
Is multicasting making your HD picture look less clear?
The issue of HD picture quality is a growing concern in the industry, particularly among high-def owners who often feel cheated by what they see on screen. On Internet message boards, HD enthusiasts often accuse local stations and the cable and satellite operators of purposely squeezing the high-def signal to make room for other channels and services.
Chris Geiger, general manager of the NBC affiliate WSTM-TV in Syracuse, told the newspaper that his station's decision to add subchannels hasn't hurt its high-def signal.
A Time Warner Cable spokesman in Syracuse agreed, saying it hasn't seen any degrading of the local NBC HD signal.
But the Post-Standard quotes a CE consultant as saying that WSTV's NBC HD signal is inferior to the high-def picture of other Syracuse local stations which do not offer multicasting.
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Aagaard also acknowledged that TV providers often fail to maintain the network's HD picture quality in their transmissions.
"We do as much as we can. But when it gets to affiliates or DIRECTV, or when it gets to some of the cable guys, it's hard to say what happens," Aagaard told the newspaper.
Is multicasting making your HD picture look less clear?
The issue of HD picture quality is a growing concern in the industry, particularly among high-def owners who often feel cheated by what they see on screen. On Internet message boards, HD enthusiasts often accuse local stations and the cable and satellite operators of purposely squeezing the high-def signal to make room for other channels and services.
Chris Geiger, general manager of the NBC affiliate WSTM-TV in Syracuse, told the newspaper that his station's decision to add subchannels hasn't hurt its high-def signal.
A Time Warner Cable spokesman in Syracuse agreed, saying it hasn't seen any degrading of the local NBC HD signal.
But the Post-Standard quotes a CE consultant as saying that WSTV's NBC HD signal is inferior to the high-def picture of other Syracuse local stations which do not offer multicasting.
Click TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni Sez.
© TVPredictions.com
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Phillip Swann is president and publisher of
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Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial
Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood
Reporter. He can be reached at
swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
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