Fox Business Network: Real HD For Us
Rival CNBC will use non-HD pictures for its new 'HD channel.'
By Swanni
That will be in contrast to business channel rival CNBC which plans to launch a new 'high-def' channel later this year called CNBC HD+.
The CNBC HD+ channel will actually display a standard-def, 4:3 image on the left side of the screen and fill the HD widescreen with graphics on the right.
According to Broadcasting & Cable magazine, Fox Business Network will be produced and transmitted in the 720p format, providing real high-def pictures.
DIRECTV has agreed to carry the high-def version at launch.
The network says it decided to launch in high-def because parent Fox had to build a new facility to house the new channel. It didn't make sense to build a standard-def facility, officials said.
“It's kind of irrelevant, because I don't think anybody's building an SD facility anymore,” Warren Vandeveer, senior vice president of operations and engineering for Fox News, told B&C. “So whatever it costs, you have to do it. Even if you said, 'I'm going to invest in a new facility, and I'm going to make it SD, because not everything's HD yet'—well, then the life of your facility is just going to be a few years, because eventually you're going to have to do it."
CNBC officials have acknowledged that the launch of CNBC HD+ is considerably less expensive than if it had converted its studio for high-def.
B&C also reports that Fox News Channel will likely switch to high-def next year. TVPredictions.com had previously reported that Fox News would switch to HD late this year or early next.
Comment on this article!
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Click
TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni
Sez.
©
TVPredictions.com
____________________________________________
Swanni (Phillip Swann) is
president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in
dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox
News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The 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.
Click
TVPredictions.com
to read more news and features on TV
technology.