Any more HD station this year? (1 Viewer)

[Nick]

Now that LCD is the biggest seller this X-mas. Will we see more HD stations converting to HD?

 

[Gary Seven]

Being that the FCC has ruled that stations convert to HD by 2008, you will see more stations convert regardless of sales.

 

[Mike~Sileck]

I thought they ruled it had to be a digital signal by 2008, not necessarily HD...?

I'm pretty sure most stations will NOT be 100% HD by 2008...

 

[nickGreenwood]

I hope there's more, on my cable (Metrocast Cablevision) we just got ESPN2 and National Geographic HD at least, I think that puts us up towards 20 HD channels now if not a few more. Now if The CW would just start up in HD out of Boston I'd be happy.

I had heard it as Digital signal also. I think the thought was to have HD nearly enforced by 2008 but that changed sometime last year I think.

 

[PattyFraser]

The unfortunate thing is that we are about to have one less. INHD2 is merging with INHD to become plain INHD. They've been talking it up (BETTER, etc.) but the bottom line is one channel fewer.
We get A&E HD, but their programming is so one-note, that if you don't like CSI: Miami and police investigative reports you won't get much use out of it. Other than that we (Brighthouse Networks) get HDNET 1 and 2, Discovery HD, PBS HD, our local channels, Universal HD, a couple of Showtimes and a couple of HBOs. These premium channels simply alternate programming, so you get one channel, in essence.
I thought the move to all-digital TV was to be by 2009, not 2008?

 

[TravisR]

The deadlines that the FCC sets are less than meaningless. For nearly a decade, they just change the date every time that it gets close. Their deadlines are more like deadlines to create another deadline.

 

[Rocky F]

Currently the cutoff date for analog, over the air stations is 2009, sometime in February I believe, I can't remember the exact date right now. This is only a conversion to digital broadcasting, high-definition is not mandated. This really has nothing to do with cable or satellite networks making the switch to HD versions, although I suspect we will continue to see the number of cable nets either going HD or adding seperate HD versions increase.

 

[Jason Seaver]

CW-56 does broadcast in HD; 1080i on Comcast's channel 856 in Cambridge. We also just got National Geographic HD after losing INHD2.

I'd still really like Comcast to pick up the HDNet channels. And I'd love to see Time-Warner launch TCM-HD, but I suspect I'd never leave the house if that happened.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The United States Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (DTTPSA) finall set the deadline at February 18, 2009. On that date, all "full-power television stations in the analog television service" will have their licenses terminated. However, there are roughly 3,000 low-power television stations that will continue to broadcast in analog after the shutdown. More importantly, the penetration of wired cable television is 72.4 million homes. Because Community Antenna Television (CATV) signals are carried over fiberoptic lines instead of the public airwaves, they will be unaffected by the switch. The DTTPSA also provides funding for digital-to-analog converters, so your shitty 19" black and white TV from 1982 can still get broadcast television. In other words, the signal might change, but nothing other than consumer demand will force the content to substantially change.

 

[MatthewA]

Crummy old Time Warner Cable has not yet filled the gap left by INHD2. When Trio went dark, they just stopped offering the channel number it was on.

Edit: I take back my first statement: We're getting MusicHD in the space left by INHD2.