Today's High-Def Headlines

FSN to Double HD Baseball Broadcasts This Season - TV Week
Fox Sports Network plans to broadcast 1,024 Major League Baseball games this season in high definition, doubling the amount of HD coverage from last year. The network’s MLB HD offerings will total more than 3,000 hours of programming and account for 63% of this year’s season. Over the next year, FSN’s regional networks plan to broadcast more than 1,600 live events from various sports in HD.

Study Shows Price Still Tops In Buying TVs - TWICE
It is no surprise price is still the leading factor for U.S. consumers when buying TVs at retail, but product selection and store location are also important. Those are two of the conclusions of an iSuppli study based on its ConsumerTrak service, which surveyed 15,000 U.S. households during the fourth quarter. More U.S. consumers buy their televisions at traditional consumer electronics chain stores than at any other type of retailer or on the Internet.

Equator HD Sets New Adventure Series - MCN
A home eco-renovation, a cross-country journey through Australia and the exploits of an unruly pack of monkeys are the subjects several new original programs set to premiere on Voom TV’s Equator HD channel. The service, which showcases the sights, sounds and series of interesting people and places around the world, will premiere later this year Natural Born Traveler, a four-episode series starring Australian world traveler Steve Crombie, who will look for adventure in his own country as he embarks on a 2,500-kilometer cross-country journey down the spine of Australia, from Mount Elephant to Dingo’s Knob.

Hallmark Movie Channel Launches in HD April 2 (press release)
The viewing experience gets even better on Hallmark Movie Channel on Wednesday, April 2, when it launches on that day in spectacular High Definition offering audiences the greatest family movies of all time. In a historic day for the network, Hallmark Channel will celebrate the launch of Hallmark Movie Channel HD with a star-studded celebration in Peoria, Illinois, that will answer the age-old question, "Will It Play in Peoria?"

Strategy Analytics: As Format War Ends, 29 Million Blu-ray Homes Expected This Year (press release)
The Blu-ray Disc victory in its recent format war with HD-DVD will propel this technology into 29.4 million homes worldwide by the end of 2008, according to the latest research published by the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service. According to, "Blu-ray Devices: Forecasting Sales and Ownership," Sony's PS3 games console will continue to drive the Blu-ray market until 2009, after which stand-alone Blu-ray players will become the dominant segment. By 2012 more than 132 million homes worldwide will own at least one Blu-ray device.