DTV Is Opportunity for Cable, Concern for FCC

Broadcasting & Cable runs two pieces this morning related to the digital TV transition next February. The first covers Comcast exec Stephen Burke's comments at an industry conference yesterday in which he described the DTV switchover as an opportunity for cable to pick up new subscribers. According to Burke, Comcast believes that there is a 20-40% chance that the new converter boxes and antennas that consumers buy for getting digital TV signals won't work due to "grade-B contour" or other issues and that those folks might be inclined to sign up for cable service at that point.

The other B&C piece details the FCC's efforts at dealing with consumer complaints related to the transition. The FCC's preparation for DTV problems seems to revolve primarily around hiring enough staff to handle any issues that arise.

Panasonic: 3,000 Giant 103" Plasma TVs Installed

Panasonic is out this morning with news that it has sold 3,000 of the world's largest plasma display, its 103-inch TH-103PF10UK. The 1080p model has been installed in Las Vegas casinos, sports stadiums and executive offices -- most notably Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Las Vegas, which installed a whopping 15 of these behemoths in its Race & Sports Book. 

VIZIO Debuts 32" and 42" Budget Plasmas

If you haven't upgraded to an HDTV yet, you're running out of excuses. If VIZIO has anything to say about it, price is no longer one of them.

The company today announced the launch of its new 32-inch and 42-inch plasma TVs at price points of $599.99 and $799.99, respectively. The new 720p plasmas are available at all 3,400 U.S. Wal-Mart stores and boast a 30,000:1 contrast ratio along with 3 HDMI inputs. 

More from the press release.

Today's High-Def Headlines

Matsushita Seen Sizing Up OLED Market - Reuters
Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is finalizing plans to mass-produce 37-inch organic light-emitting diode TVs in three years, aiming to overtake rivals in the next-generation flat-TV race, the Sankei Shimbun daily reported on Tuesday. The newspaper said that Matsushita would be the first to mass-produce OLED TVs of over 30 inches, and that the company aimed to challenge Samsung Electronics for the top share in the global flat-TV market.

GlobeCast Invests in U.S. HDTV Upgrades - MCN

Content management and delivery company GlobeCast has upgraded its HDTV infrastructure and formed strategic alliances in the Americas in response to growing demand for the distribution and contribution of HD content between America and the rest of the world, officials said Monday. Building on its HD fiber upgrade in 2007, GlobeCast has completed the next phase of its American HD strategy with the installation of state-of-the-art encoding and converting equipment at its broadcast center in Culver City, Calif.

CableCard Set-Top Count: 6.2 Million - MCN

The 10 largest cable operators have deployed more than 6.2 million set-top boxes with removable CableCards through June 23 but just 372,000 standalone CableCard devices, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. MSOs have deployed more than 2 million CableCard-enabled set-tops in the last three months, but only 25,000 standalone CableCards.

Hallmark Movie Channel HD Cinches Cox Deal - MCN

Cox Communications has entered into a multi-year carriage agreement for Hallmark Movie Channel HD, officials said Monday. The cable operator struck the deal with Crown Media Holdings, owner and operator of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel and its HDTV service. Cox currently distributes Hallmark Channel and the standard-definition version of Hallmark Movie Channel.

Mitsubishi to Roll Out 3D DLP Packages - TWICE

Mitsubishi said Tuesday it has entered cooperative agreements with NVIDIA and Aspen Media Products to distribute and promote use of PC-based 3-D video games with Mitsubishi DLP rear-projection sets.

Today's High-Def Headlines

Big Ten, Comcast Reach Carriage Agreement - TV Week
After long, often acrimonious negotiations, Big Ten Network reached a long-term carriage agreement with Comcast that puts the channel on the expanded basic tier during the next football and basketball seasons in the eight states where the conference’s 11 colleges are located. A joint venture of the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks, Big Ten Network launched last August and has about 30 million subscribers.

Panasonic Adds HD Camcorders - TWICE

Panasonic will ship its first HD camcorders with 3MOS technology to dealers this September. The HDC-SD100 and HS100 are AVCHD models that record 1920 by 1080 video. According to Panasonic, the new models are based on the firm’s earlier 3CCD technology but instead use CMOS sensors, which the company says improves color reproduction.

Rising Tide Lifts HDTV Sales at Best Buy, Circuit City - TV Week

For Best Buy’s most recent quarter, sales of flat-panel televisions were a bright spot. For Circuit City, it was the bright spot. The two largest U.S. electronics retailers, which reported fiscal-first-quarter earnings this week, both said flat-screen TV sales increased for the quarter ended May 30 on more demand for digital television sets in advance of the U.S. switchover to digital broadcasts next February.

Today's High-Def Headlines

I'm back after a little break to enjoy the U.S. Open, so here's what's going on in the world of HD:

Comcast To Launch Three HD Nets, Including E! - MCN
Comcast is creating two separate HDTV networks for The Golf Channel and Versus, as well as launching a standalone HDTV service for E! Entertainment Television in December, officials said Wednesday. Comcast’s sports services, Versus and The Golf Channel, since January 2007 have shared a single HDTV channel. On that hybrid HD network, Golf Channel programming from the standard-definition channel was simulcast from noon to 7 p.m. and Versus fare from 7 p.m. to midnight. Now, each sports channel will have its own 24-hour HDTV network as of December, and E! will have its own HDTV standalone simulcast as well.

Bang & Olufsen Unveils BeoVision 9 - TWICE

Design-centric A/V equipment manufacturer Bang & Olufsen unveiled a 50-inch BeoVision 9 plasma TV and home cinema package featuring the company’s “Automatic Colour Management” technology that is said to offer richer, more natural colors over the life of the plasma screen.

ESPN Scores Hole-In-One With U.S. Open Coverage - MCN
Tiger Woods wasn’t the only winner at this year’s U.S. Open. ESPN, which shared coverage of Monday’s dramatic 19-hole playoff with NBC, garnered a 4.2 rating and more than 4 million households, making it the most-watched golf telecast in cable television history.

TV Panel Sees Green - TWICE

The importance of environmentally friendly practices and designs in the HDTV category is having an impact on product sales, but to what extent was the source of some debate among a panel of HDTV manufacturers and retailers at the Consumer Electronics Association’s Digital Downtown showcase Thursday.

All-Digital Cable Move May Spark Viewer Ire - USA Today

Cable subscribers who own a cable-ready analog TV — which means most customers — have it easy. They simply attach a line from the wall into the back of the set, and it's ready to go. On cable's most popular service, that means access to about 80 channels — including those that define the medium, such as CNN, ESPN and USA Network.

Time Warner Cable offers Disney Channel, ABC Family HD - San Antonio Biz Journal

Time Warner Cable San Antonio is bringing cable customers more family programming in high definition, the company said Thursday. Starting today, the company is making Disney Channel HD available on channel 142 and ABC Family HD available on channel 141. The new HD channels are available to all standard service customers with an HD converter.

Amino Debuts HD-Only IPTV Set-Top - MCN

Amino Communications, a U.K.-based IPTV set-top manufacturer, has developed a unit with only a digital high-definition video output that the company claimed is about 20% less expensive than its existing HD solution.

Philips Poised for Second Half Sales Season - Dealerscope

Philips will enter what promises to be a highly competitive Christmas selling season armed with the products it displayed at a New York-held “Holidays in June” showing Monday. Among the audio, video, personal care and lighting solutions were some models from the company’s flat-panel LCD TV line – the first display of TV products since the April announcement that it would license sourcing, distribution, marketing and sales of its TVs in North America to Funai.

DISH Inks Deal with Tribune Co. for WGN HD

DISH Network said yesterday that it has signed a retransmission deal with the Tribune Co. for distribution of WGN America HD as well as four local broadcast stations in high-def: Seattle's KCPQ, New York City's WPIX, Chicago's WGN-TV and Sacramento's KTXL. In addition to DISH now being able to carry those five channels in high-def, the deal also renews DISH's HD carriage of 23 Tribune broadcast stations in 19 markets. More from Multichannel News.

Today's High-Def Headlines

ESPN Goes Deep with College World Series in HD - MCN

ESPN and ESPN2 will provide exclusive coverage of every College World Series game in high-definition beginning Saturday, June 14, network officials said Wednesday.

NBCU Plans Local, HD-Focused Ads for Summer Olympics - MCN

NBC Universal will treat the Olympics viewing period as broadcasters do the Super Bowl: as a time when consumers mull HDTV purchases. Affiliates will be provided with on-air, direct mail and bill stuffers to promote HDTV content sales, as well as material designed to retain current HDTV subscribers.

Monster Cable goes wireless with HD kit - AP/Forbes

On Thursday, Monster is introducing a set of two boxes: a receiver that plugs into the back of an HDTV and a transmitter that connects to a DVD player or other components of a home entertainment center.

Charter reaches agreement in principle with LIN TV for HD - Thomson

Broadband and cable company Charter Communications said Wednesday it reached an agreement in principle with LIN TV Corp. that will permit Charter to continue carrying the analog, digital, and HD programming of LIN TV stations.

Verizon FiOS Preps More HD Channels

Verizon said late last week that it will expand its FiOS TV high-def lineup to 150 channels by the end of the year, in addition to over 1,000 HD video on demand choices. More than 25 of the new HD channels will be added this summer, including Animal Planet, Lifetime, Science Channel, Smithsonian and TLC, as well as five new high-def channels from Showtime and Starz.

SRS Labs Partners with Sharp, Olevia for Better Sound

Fresh on the heels of its partnership with VIZIO that we reported yesterday, SRS Labs said today that it has inked similar deals with Sharp and Syntax-Brillian (owners of the Olevia brand) to provide enhanced audio technology for those companies' respective LCD TVs. Sharp will use SRS' TruSurround XT in more than 40 AQUOS LCD models in Asia and Europe while the Olevia 2 Series and 6 Series LCD TV lines will use the SRS technology here in the U.S.

No word on why the Sharp AQUOS LCD TVs here in the U.S. were left out of the deal.

VIZIO to Get Audio Upgrade from SRS Labs

VIZIO, the low-cost flat-panel HDTV brand that has rapidly become one of the industry's top sellers, announced this morning that it has teamed up with SRS Labs to gain access to SRS' portfolio of audio and surround sounds technologies for VIZIO TV and accessory products. VIZIO's first technology implementation will be SRS TruSurround XT in flat-panel TVs, beginning in Q2 2008 (ed. note: that's now, right?).

VIZIO will initially ship three models with the SRS TruSurround XT, including a 42" LCD, a 47" LCD and a 50" plasma. These HDTVs will be available at Costco, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Sears and Circuit City sometime this month.

CNET Reviews New Sony 32" LCD HDTV

CNET has just wrapped up a review on Sony's new 32" M Series LCD TV, which was cross-posted over on CNN.com. The overall verdict? It's a good quality LCD but a little higher priced than similar performing models from Samsung and Sharp. CNET gives it a 7 out of 10.

If you're in the market for a Sony LCD TV of this size, you may want to consider the L series, which is about $200 less and gets high marks -- 4.8 stars out of 5 -- from consumers on CircuitCity.com.

Today's High-Def Headlines

Healthy '08 TV Market Seen - TWICE

TV market research firm DisplaySearch said global economic difficulties, the transition to full DTV broadcasting in the U.S. in early 2009, and continued strong consumer demand for flat-panel TVs should combine to keep North American DTV sales ahead of forecasts in 2008 without stressing supply levels.

Retailers Seek HD 'Sizzle' - TWICE

Retailers attending the recent DisplaySearch TV Supply Chain Conference said they have been seeing a strong early-take rate on the government-coupon eligible DTV converter boxes, which is making it easier to forecast demand in the final months of the digital TV transition.

Time Warner Prepared for NYC Verizon Battle

Time Warner Cable chief operating officer Landel Hobbs offered a little more insight into the MSO's planned response to Verizon's encroachment into the New York City video market later this year, adding that the cable operator is prepared to fight back the threat with advanced services and innovative pricing plans. Hobbs, speaking at the Deutsche Bank Media & Telecommunications conference Monday, said Time Warner Cable is prepared, readying its plant for additional HDTV channels and its start over service. Hobbs said that TWC will nearly double its HDTV capacity in New York from 55 channels to about 100 channels by the end of the year.

Today's High-Def Headlines

Seven Bravia XBR Models Top Sony's Lineup - TWICE

Sony expanded its Bravia high-definition LCD-TV Lineup to 30 models, excluding derivatives, with the addition of seven TVs in the top-end Bravia XBR series.

Photos: Panasonic Rolls Out Net-Enabled Plasmas - CNET

Panasonic's new high-end PZ850 series of Viera plasma televisions offer instant Web connectivity, among other features.

A Digital Offer 'The Godfather' Can't Refuse - CNET

How's this for pressure? In the care of Daphne Dentz and her colleagues was a masterpiece of American filmmaking: The Godfather.

Travel Channel HD Now On Demand

The Travel Channel said yesterday that its on demand offering will now be available in high-def via an exclusive distribution deal with TVN Entertainment. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Samantha Brown's Passport will be among the popular travel programs available.

MPEG-4: Cable's Future, But How Soon?

There's an interesting piece this morning over at Multichannel News about the cable industry's slow conversion from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 and how the networks and operators are handling it. The upshot is that while MPEG-4 is almost universally hailed as more efficient than the older MPEG-2 format since it consumes less bandwidth while maintaining a high picture quality, so much money has been invested in MPEG-2 headend, transponder and set-top box equipment that a wholesale changeover to MPEG-4 won't happen anytime soon.

Check out the full MCN article for details on what HBO, Starz, Discovery and others are doing with MPEG-4.

Voom Says DISH Dumping Will Cost It $1 Billion

Voom HD last week filed a breach of contract lawsuit against DISH Network, claiming that DISH's decision to drop the Voom 15 suite of high-def channels violated the two companies' carriage agreement.

Now Voom has filed an amended claim to its lawsuit stating that DISH's decision to dump Voom will cost Voom a billion dollars over what should have been the life of the contract. Voom apparently arrived at that figure by projecting DISH's HD subscriber growth rate over the next 12 years and multiplying that number by the monthly fee DISH was to pay Voom, currently $3.25 per subscriber.

It's unclear whether Voom is seeking that same billion-dollar amount in damages or some other amount. More from Multichannel News.

BBC America HD to Launch This Fall

BBC America will make its HD debut sometime this fall, although no details are yet available about exactly when or on which high-def service providers. Popular series Robin Hood will be among the programs available in HD. More from Multichannel News.

Only 6% of Consumers Plan Blu-ray Upgrade: NPD

NPD is out with a research study this morning showing that while 45% of HDTV owners are familiar with Blu-ray Disc, just 9% of them plan to buy a Blu-ray Disc player in the next six months. Only 6% of all consumers are planning a Blu-ray purchase. According to NPD's research, the main barriers to higher Blu-ray adoption are perceived high cost of players and a belief that standard-def DVDs are good enough.

Weather Channel in Real HD Debuts Today

When DIRECTV became the first service provider to launch The Weather Channel HD last December, it came under some criticism because Weather HD was just an upconverted version of the standard-def Weather Channel. That monkey is finally off Weather's back as of today because the network's new 12,500 square foot high-definition facility with 5,000 square foot HD studio is making its debut. Broadcasting & Cable has the full story, the highlight of which is a giant 40-foot long rear-projection display wall from which the weather will be displayed in all of Mother Nature's glory.

Blu-ray Coming to Vending Machines

You've probably noticed those DVD vending machines in your local supermarket that let you rent a DVD overnight for $1.49. Now that the high-def DVD battle is over, those machines will soon be stocking Blu-ray Discs as well. According to Dealerscope Magazine, the operator of those vending machines -- a company called DVDPlay -- will next month begin adding BRDs to the mix at the same price as regular DVDs.