Washington, D.C.
(April 17, 2007) -- In Pittsburgh and other NHL towns, fans
this week are screaming that they can't watch their local blades
of glory in High-Definition.
Cable TV subscribers are complaining that they can't watch 'Extra Innings' baseball games in HD, although they have paid nearly $200 for the package.
And football fans are holding their collective breaths that CBS will increase their high-def coverage of the NFL from last year's measly three games a week.
What's wrong with this picture, if you'll forgive the pun?
With HDTV in roughly 30 million U.S. homes, shouldn't the networks have a better handle on providing sports in high-def?
After all, we've all been sold that sports is the driver of High-Definition TV; that people are rushing to buy sets to watch their favorite teams in crystal-clear HD.
So why can't we see them in high-def?!
Cable TV subscribers are complaining that they can't watch 'Extra Innings' baseball games in HD, although they have paid nearly $200 for the package.
And football fans are holding their collective breaths that CBS will increase their high-def coverage of the NFL from last year's measly three games a week.
What's wrong with this picture, if you'll forgive the pun?
With HDTV in roughly 30 million U.S. homes, shouldn't the networks have a better handle on providing sports in high-def?
After all, we've all been sold that sports is the driver of High-Definition TV; that people are rushing to buy sets to watch their favorite teams in crystal-clear HD.
So why can't we see them in high-def?!
__________________________________________
____________________________________________
The problem is that people have rushed out to buy those HDTVs a little faster than the networks anticipated. Consequently, TV production teams are simply not ready to provide the kind of HD sports coverage that you would think would be the standard by now.
Take the National Hockey League, for instance, where fans in several cities can not watch this week's opening playoff round in HD on Fox's regional sports channels.
Shawn McClintock, an executive producer at Fox Sports,, tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the network simply doesn't have enough production trucks and crew for high-def coverage everywhere.
"Everything runs through our facility in Houston. They have limited capacity. Additionally, it can be challenging to find an available truck on such short notice. With the quick turnaround, we could not pull it off for the first round," he said. "In the event the Penguins advance, we're making plans to cover as many games as we can in HD."
Think about that. Fox Sports, which is owned by mega-corporation News Corp., can't find a production truck -- one solitary production truck -- so it can broadcast the Penguins in high-def.
But that's the reality of how prepared -- or, we should say, unprepared -- the networks are to broadcast live sporting events in HD.
And it's not just the regional sports channels.
Defending its decision to broadcast just one or two Saturday afternoon baseball games in HD on the Fox network, a spokesman also cited the lack of "truck availability."
And CBS said last year that it didn't yet have the resources and equipment to broadcast more than three NFL games a week in HD. Executives complained about how costly it was to install the infrastructure necessary for both analog and high-def productions for every stadium.
Certainly, we can all sympathize with programming executives who are challenged daily by bean-counters and shareholders. But industry forecasts predicted that high-def sales would boom in 2006 (particularly during the holidays) and it appears that some network executives chose to dismiss them. They concluded that the HD audience would still be too small to justify the extra expense to cover sports in HD like a blanket.
But to not be able to see the first round of your local NHL team in HDTV is hard to accept. And to make matters worse, the Versus channel's HD coverage of the game is blacked out in your city because you can watch it (in non-HD) on the regional sports channel, which has the local rights.
While the networks, including the regional sports channels, have increased their HD coverage over the last year, sports fans deserve better.
Comment on this article!
Click TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni Sez.
© TVPredictions.com
____________________________________________
Advertisement
_______________________________________________________
____________________________________________
The problem is that people have rushed out to buy those HDTVs a little faster than the networks anticipated. Consequently, TV production teams are simply not ready to provide the kind of HD sports coverage that you would think would be the standard by now.
Take the National Hockey League, for instance, where fans in several cities can not watch this week's opening playoff round in HD on Fox's regional sports channels.
Shawn McClintock, an executive producer at Fox Sports,, tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the network simply doesn't have enough production trucks and crew for high-def coverage everywhere.
"Everything runs through our facility in Houston. They have limited capacity. Additionally, it can be challenging to find an available truck on such short notice. With the quick turnaround, we could not pull it off for the first round," he said. "In the event the Penguins advance, we're making plans to cover as many games as we can in HD."
Think about that. Fox Sports, which is owned by mega-corporation News Corp., can't find a production truck -- one solitary production truck -- so it can broadcast the Penguins in high-def.
But that's the reality of how prepared -- or, we should say, unprepared -- the networks are to broadcast live sporting events in HD.
And it's not just the regional sports channels.
Defending its decision to broadcast just one or two Saturday afternoon baseball games in HD on the Fox network, a spokesman also cited the lack of "truck availability."
And CBS said last year that it didn't yet have the resources and equipment to broadcast more than three NFL games a week in HD. Executives complained about how costly it was to install the infrastructure necessary for both analog and high-def productions for every stadium.
Certainly, we can all sympathize with programming executives who are challenged daily by bean-counters and shareholders. But industry forecasts predicted that high-def sales would boom in 2006 (particularly during the holidays) and it appears that some network executives chose to dismiss them. They concluded that the HD audience would still be too small to justify the extra expense to cover sports in HD like a blanket.
But to not be able to see the first round of your local NHL team in HDTV is hard to accept. And to make matters worse, the Versus channel's HD coverage of the game is blacked out in your city because you can watch it (in non-HD) on the regional sports channel, which has the local rights.
While the networks, including the regional sports channels, have increased their HD coverage over the last year, sports fans deserve better.
Comment on this article!
Click TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni Sez.
© TVPredictions.com
____________________________________________
Advertisement
_______________________________________________________
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.