CBS Station: HD News Is Too Costly
The Minneapolis affiliate explains why it has not switched to high-def news.
By Swanni
Approximately 75 local stations across the nation have begun broadcasting their news programs in high-def. However, many have held out due to technical and financial reasons.
But it's rare for a local station to actually acknowledge that cost is a primary reason. Usually, a station simply says it will switch to HD news at some unspecified time in the future.
But WCCO today addressed its lack of high-def newscasts in a feature posted at its web site. The station was asked by a viewer why it hasn't starting delivering the news in HD.
"Why doesn't WCCO 4 News broadcast in High Definition?" asked WCCO viewer Benjamin Higginbotham in a video. "Channel 11 does it, 5's about to do it, dude, seriously if 9 and 29 do it before you guys do, just throw in the towel and give up."
"High-def definitely has a wow factor," Susan Adams Loyd, WCCO-TV's general manager, responds in the web site article. "But High-Definition television is very expensive technology."
Loyd said the station first has to replace "60 years of technical infrastructure," including control room switchers, tape machines and cameras.
"I think we're gonna do as much as we can as we have the funds and time to do that. The important thing is that it's done right," said Loyd.
She did not give an exact launch date for WCCO to switch to HD newscasts.
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Swanni (Phillip Swann) is
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