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TOP STORY: RCN Goes All Digital to Expand HD Offering NEWS: --SPEED HD Launches With NASCAR Coverage --KGW Plans New HD Studio in Portland Q&A: Steve Necessary, Cox Communications Briefing Room: News from B&C, Multichannel News and TWICE Around the Web This twice-monthly e-mail newsletter is published by the editors of Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News and covers everything related to HDTV. If you are not interested in receiving this key source of information, click here to opt-out.

RCN’s Chicago system has started the transition to an all digital video service, a process that will allow the cable overbuilder reclaim bandwidth used by analog channels and dramatically expand its lineup of high-definition channels.

“We have about 55 high-def channels that are active on the system today and are already looking to add additional ones in the upcoming months,” said Tom McKay, vice president and general manager of the Chicago market at RCN. “We’d like to get to 100 this year.”

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Vice President, Video Product Development & Support

As the satellite operators and telcos tout their ability to deliver more high-def tonnage than cable, major MSOs are scrambling to free up bandwidth for bulked up HD packages. Cox Communication’s vice president of video product development and support Steve Necessary spoke to HD Update about the “tool box” Cox is using to free up bandwidth for more high-def content.

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--Interviewed by George Winslow

Cable Programmers Sue FCC
(From a Feb. 4 article on Broadcastingcable.com)

Cable programmers C-SPAN, Discovery, The Weather Channel, TV One, A&E Television Networks, Scripps Networks have filed a lawsuit against the FCC over its new “dual-carriage” rules. The suit alleges that rules will force many cable operators to carry both a digital and analog signal of local broadcast stations, thus reducing the amount of bandwidth the systems have for cable programmers and new high def channels.
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Behind Fox's Super Bowl Game Plan
(From the Jan. 28 edition of Broadcasting & Cable)

To cover the Giants’ upset victory over the Patriots in a Super Bowl that broke viewing records for the game, Fox also deployed a record amount of high-def gear, including about 30 cameras, 80 microphones, Game Creek’s mobile units, and some new ultra-high-frame-rate cameras for replays. Unlike Fox’s earlier coverage of the NFC championship game in sub-zero Green Bay, however, there was no need to wrap the HD cameras in self-heating blankets.
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The Weather Channel Builds New HD Studio
(From the Feb. 4 edition of Broadcasting & Cable)

The Weather Channel has completed the building that will house a new 12,500 foot HD studio and is now installing equipment for the studio’s mid-year launch. The move will allow the channel, which launched a HD feed last year, to dramatically expand its high def programming and change the look of its studio based programming.
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Selling the Weather in High-Def
(From the Feb. 3 edition of Broadcasting & Cable)

As stations go high-def, vendors are developing better graphics and radar programs that allow newscasts to cover the weather with more information and data than ever before. Better tornado detection technologies, localized weather alerts and high definition 3D graphics, are just some of the advances being made in high-def weather coverage.
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IFC Free Debuts Shows in HD
(From a Jan. 28 article on Broadcastingcable.com)

Rainbow Networks has launched IFC Free, a high-definition VOD channel that will debut all IFC original series prior to their airing on the linear cable. By premiering the entire series on demand to their tech-savvy target viewers, IFC hopes to build a early buzz that will boost ratings on the linear network. As part of the plan, all 26 episodes of the network's new anime series Hell Girl will run on IFC Free in July; it likely won't premiere on linear TV until later.
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U-verse Launches in Chicago Suburbs
(From a Jan. 28 article on Multichannel.com)

The high-def war on the windy city just got stormier. AT&T has launched its U-verse IPTV video offering in 175 communities around Chicago with over 40 high definition channels, more than the 29 HD linear services that incumbent cable operator Comcast offers.
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Caliendo Pitches Dish HD Campaign
(From a Feb. 3 article on Multichannel.com)

To tout its high-definition services and other services, Dish Network has hired Frank TV star Frank Caliendo. The comedian pitches a number of promotions, including a new HD standalone programming package that features more than 40 HD channels for $29.99 per month.
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ESPN Plans First International HD Launch
(From a Feb. 1 article on Multichannel.com)

ESPN will launch its first international high-definition channel sometime in the middle of this year in Australia. The HD channel, which will be customized for the Australian market and transmitted via an undersea fiber optic cable, will be one of four services that Australian pay TV provider Foxtel is planning to add to its programming lineup.
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Verizon Extends Free HDTV Offer
(From a Jan. 25 article on Multichannel.com)

Verizon’s promotion giving a free HDTV to customers who are willing to sign a 24-month contract for its triple play packages has been extended though Feb. 16. The marketing campaign offers customers in 13 states who signed the contract for FiOS TV, FiOS Internet and phone service a free 19-inch liquid-crystal display HDTV.
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JVC Announces New HD Camcorders
(From a Feb. 1 article on Twice.com)

JVC will ship two new HD camcorders to dealers in March. The hard-disk-drive-based Everios HD camcorders--the GZ-HD6 and HD5--can record video at 1,920 by 1080i using the MPEG-2 format. Recorded video can be up-converted to 1080p/60 fps via an HDMI 1.3 output. Video can also be up-converted using the Everio Share Station DVD burner.
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Panasonic Details HD Strategies
(From a Jan. 28 article on Twice.com)

In an exclusive interview, Toshihiro Sakamoto, president of Panasonic AVC Networks Company, outlines the company’s strategies for high definition technologies. Highlights include: Plans to work with Comcast to begin offering the first Tru2way-ready (formerly OCAP) TVs in 2008 and a partnership between Panasonic and SiBEAM to develop a wireless 1080p HD transmission system that can send uncompressed 1080p content wirelessly with no deterioration in quality.
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North American Digital Television Sales Forecasts
(From a Jan. 28 article on Twice.com)

About 27.3 million LCD TVs will be sold in North America in 2008, with the average price of $1,003 and another 4.6 million plasma TV sets will be bought for an average of $1,234 a set, according to forecasts from iSuppli and TWICE. The study predicts that displays 40 to 49 inches will have the largest market share (42.9%), followed by sets 50 inches and larger (26.0%) and sets 30 to 39 inches (22.8%).
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Who Needs Blu-ray or HD DVD Anyway?

The Economist takes a contrarian view on the format war between Blue-ray and HD DVD, arguing that it is unlikely to end quickly despite the defection of Warner Bros. to Blue-ray. One major problem is that consumers maybe unlikely to buy new high-def DVD players because newer televisions have better “upscaling” features that improve the resolution of standard DVDs, giving them less incentive to upgrade to more expensive high definition players and disks.
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Toshiba’s Hail Mary Super Bowl Ad

Internetnews.com details how Toshiba is not throwing in the towel on the format fight. Besides offering HD DVD players at heavily discounted prices, Toshiba coughed up $2.7 million on what some have called a “Hail Mary” 30-second Super Bowl ad last weekend.
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JVC and Funai Create LCD Consortium

Web site xbitlabs.com reports that JVC and Funai Electric in Japan have inked an agreement to work together on the development and manufacturing of liquid crystal displays. The alliance is the most recent consortium created between electronics manufacturing companies hoping to deliver better HDTVs. Late in 2007 Canon, Hitachi, Matsushita Electric Industrial (which creates Panasonic-branded set) and other companies created a separate consortium that will invest in development of advanced in-plane switching (IPS) panels for liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
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Shipments of HDMI-Enabled Devises Grow

In-Stat predicts that Digital visual interface (DVI) device shipments will decline from 112 million in 2007 to just 3 million in 2011 as other technologies, including high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) become more popular in the PC market. The study found that about 90% of all TV shipped in 2007 were equipped with HDMI and that 143 million HDMI-enabled devices shipped in 2007.
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2.4 Million HDTV Sold Sets Before Super Bowl

The Sports Video Group and the Consumer Electronics Association have issued a new report highlighting the importance of the Super Bowl as the single biggest driver of new sales of HDTV. They predict that 2.4 million high-definition TV sets were sold in the first part of 2008 prior to the Super Bowl, producing about $2.2 billion in retail sales. The study also found that about 18% of consumers expected to use their laptop during the game to check states or communicate with friends; another13% of consumers planned to use their mobile phone for the same purpose.
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Boeing Delivers New DirecTV Satellite

Space Race News reports that Boeing has delivered DIRECTV 11 -- the second of three satellites that DirecTV plans to use to expand its high-definition channel lineup -- to the Sea Launch Home Port in Long Beach California. When it is launched in March, the new bird and the DIRECTV 10 satellite launched last year will give the DBS provider enough capacity to offer about 150 national HD channels.
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