Down to Wire for TBS
As Pennant Races Heat Up, HD Deals Are Trickling In
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 9/30/2007 8:00:00 PM
As TBS prepared for what could be an unprecedented week of post-season baseball coverage, several satellite and cable systems stepped onto the field to pitch all of the network’s high-definition playoff coverage to their subscribers.
Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House on Friday joined Cablevision Systems, DirecTV and Comcast in launching the network, called TBS in HD, by the start of October — in time for the network’s exclusive coverage of baseball’s Division Series round, which begins Oct. 3.
But there could be extra innings before those series even begin. Entering the weekend, there was the possibility of as many as four tie-breaking, regular season contests that could air on Oct. 1, according to executives from all parties.
The TBS in HD deals were part of a very busy week in the high-definition arena that saw the two satellite-TV services, DirecTV and EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network, ramp up their offerings in the format. Comcast attempted to keep pace with the launch of several HD services its home Philadelphia market.
Time Warner Cable will offer the HD simulcast of corporate sibling TBS’s signal beginning Oct. 1, corporate communications director Maureen Huff said. But Huff would not say how many of the cable operator’s systems will actually launch the service in time for TBS’s baseball playoff coverage.
That coverage is part of the network’s seven-year pact with MLB, which runs through 2013. The package also includes exclusive coverage of baseball’s National League Championship Series.
Along with TWC, Bright House’s Tampa Bay, Fla., and Central Florida divisions have added TBS in HD as part of a package of eight HD services expected to launch by mid-October. A Bright House spokesperson, however, would not say whether any of its other systems have added those HD services, which also include Food Network, The History Channel, HGTV, Discovery Science Channel, TLC, Discovery HD and Animal Planet.
Comcast and Cox executives said they plan to launch TBS in HD in a majority of its systems by next week. Earlier this week, Cablevision Systems said it will roll out the service to its more than 800,000 customers.
Dish Network executives said it has not reached a deal to distribute TBS in HD.
The network has deals with “multiple affiliates and we expect them to roll out as they have bandwidth and as it fits with their HD strategy,” Turner Broadcasting System vice president of corporate communications Misty Skedgell said. But she declined to comment on details.
As for TBS’s on-the-field HD coverage, Turner Sports senior director Jeff Pomeroy said the network is prepared to offer any potential playoff “play-in” games in HD along with its post-season coverage. The possibility of a four-way tie among National League wild card playoff contenders could produce up to four tie-breaking games that would have to be played over two days beginning Oct. 2 if the playoffs are to begin on schedule.
In other HD developments last week, DirecTV finally made good on its promise to offer a cornucopia of HD channels, launching more than 20 other high-definition TV services last Tuesday, according to the network’s Web site.
Along with TBS in HD, the 15-million subscriber satellite service also launched the such services as A&E HD, Animal Planet HD, Discovery Channel HD, TLC HD; The Movie Channel HD, Smithsonian HD; Starz Comedy HD and Starz Edge HD; the Versus/Golf Channel HD hybrid channel, Big Ten Network HD and NFL Network HD.
Fellow satellite company Dish Network generated some HD headlines of its own last week, launching feeds in the format from four regional sports networks.
The networks — Denver-based Altitude Sports and Entertainment; Washington D.C./Baltimore-based Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic, Sacramento-targeted Comcast Sports Net West and FSN Ohio — will only feature live-game HD content, according to the network.
Comcast tried to keep pace somewhat with its satellite competitors on the HD front by adding A&E HD, Food Network HD, HGTV HD, National Geographic HD and NFL Network HD in most of its hometown Philadelphia market and surrounding counties, the operator said.
