Is your local news in HD? - Page 69

WALB (NBC) and WALB-DT2 (ABC) are now offering HD newscasts as of this past weekend.

~Alan

Columbus, GA (DMA #127):
WTVM (ABC) has HD newscasts now.

~Alan

WICZ (Fox, Binghamton, NY) now with HD local news (the first in that market), according to this article:

http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=24589

Not sure how long it has been going on, I rarely watch my local news, but WPTV in West Palm Beach (HD for a while now) is now being framed 16:9.

I think it is now letterboxed on the station's SD feed that it sends to cable companies that still offer SD service.

Since the station's new graphics are full 16:9, it will cut off on the sides on a 4:3 screen. The same method is used on FOX News Channel, CNN and ESPN.

That's the other thing that I thought. In this particular case, "framed 16:9" means that the video is being composed expressly for 16:9 instead of being 4:3 friendly as in the past. This means that people who still use 4:3 displays will see significant important portions of the picture cut off unless they have a device that can be set to display 16:9 content in letterboxed form.

The SD channel will be letterboxed, just like all the rest of them. They'll see everything.

Looks like WWOR New York's 10 O'clock news is finally in HD.

Picture quality looks pretty good

In addition, within the past week and a half, two local news operations upgraded their newscasts from 4:3 SD to full HD:

WROC (CBS) in Rochester, NY (plus WUHF (Fox), whose newscasts are produced by WROC)

WANE (CBS) in Fort Wayne, IN

In Rochester's case, that leaves WHEC (NBC) as the lone 4x3 SD holdout in that market.

In Fort Wayne's case, the WANE upgrade leaves the combined WISE/WPTA news operation, which carries NBC, ABC, Fox, CW and MyTV affiliations, the last remaining SD holdout (though all of Fort Wayne's local news operations are in 16x9 widescreen).

And WWOR's upgrade to HD leaves only KRON and KOMO as the two SDTV holdouts in the top 20 Nielsen television markets (though both are in 16x9 widescreen).
Edited by RJL1965 - 9/12/12 at 5:52pm

No HD News, less HD programs

Also of note:

In Philadelphia, NBC-owned WCAU is now no longer producing the newscast on Tribune-owned MyTV affiliate WPHL as of this past Saturday. Instead, ABC-owned WPVI is now producing the 10 o'clock newscast for that station. It does not affect the HD status of WPHL's newscast since both WCAU and WPVI broadcast their local news in HD.

A few updates:

WBXX's (CW, Knoxville) newscasts (produced by ABC affiliate WATE) have been in HD since the spring of 2012.

In Milwaukee, independent WMLW moved from a low-powered SDTV signal to a full-powered HDTV signal. As a result, the newscast on WMLW, which is produced by its CBS-affiliated sister station WDJT, is now in HD. WMLW's former low-powered digital signal is now home to Me-TV Milwaukee, which previously aired on the full-powered signal.

Finally, in South Bend, WCWW (CW) began airing a newscast produced by its ABC-affiliated sister station WBND. Like the newscast on ABC 57, the news on CW 25 is in HD.
Edited by RJL1965 - 9/18/12 at 4:06pm

Good catch.

I don't know if WLNY qualifies for the list. They do a 9 pm newscast in HD, but it's from the WCBS studios and uses WCBS talent. However, everything is branded as WLNY.

It qualifies in my eyes. There are numerous examples of one station producing news for another station and both stations being on the list.

Also, this is somewhat old news, but KFSM (CBS) in the northwest Arkansas market that includes the cities of Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Springdale, and Rogers began HD newscasts over the summer. As a result, the largest market with no HD local news appears to now be Boise, ID. The "big four" stations there all have had widescreen SD newscasts for a while, though. Chico-Redding, CA remains the largest market to have no HD or widescreen SD local newscasts.

Not only do all Indianapolis news stations now broadcast in HD, Channel 13, the NBC affiliate, announced this morning that they have the first HD camera in a news helecopter in the state of Indiana.

True, especially since WLNY is now part of a duopoly with WCBS-TV. CBS completed its purchase of WLNY at the end of this past March, making both sister stations. There are many co-owned duopolies, as well as those stations that technically have a separate owner but are controlled by another, larger station via local marketing and/or shared services and/or joint sales agreements, around the country. A good example of the latter is the recent additions of Nexstar-owned WROC and Sinclair-owned WUHF (to the HD news list), where both stations are operated out of the WROC facilities through a shared services agreement.

In addition, there are many other markets where one station produces local news to air on another station that is otherwise completely unrelated to the first station (meaning that the junior partner in the agreement is still under entirely separate ownership and management). This is called a news share agreement. An example of this occurs in Philadelphia, where ABC-owned WPVI produces a nightly 10 o'clock newscast for Tribune-owned WPHL even though both stations operate from separate facilities. Of note, the partnership is the third such arrangement between an ABC-owned station and a third-party-owned station in the country; the other two are in San Francisco (KGO-TV and Granite-owned KOFY) and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (WTVD and Sinclair-owned WLFL; however, the WLFL newscast is still in 4:3 SD due to its master control not being able to receive off-network programming in HD).

Finally, there is one affiliation change among stations that air HD newscasts:
KAUT dropped MyTV and reverted to independent status as of September 17. The new MyTV affiliate, KSBI, does not currently air local newscasts.
Edited by RJL1965 - 9/19/12 at 7:28pm

That's in Oklahoma City, in case you're interested. (A lot of people on this board don't know that, RJL1965.)

Thanks. I forgot to put that in.

WRLH Channel 35 FOX Richmond Virginia Local News is in HD

Wow. For some reason I thought all of the major markets converted way back when. All of the SF Bay Area stations have been HD since the conversion and at least 2 have had HD helicopter-mounted cameras for at least a year, possibly two. I believe the same has been true for So. Cal. as well.

One more addition (in the Portland, ME market):

wmtw (ABC) is now broadcasting its local news in 16x9 SD widescreen.

We are waiting for tomorrow morning at 5 AM to see what WNCT (CBS) a Media General station has to show. They are doing news from their newsroom while a new set is being built and/or either they are preparing to go hi definition. This would be the second station in the Greenville/New Bern/Washington NC area. Right now Bonten Media WCTI (ABC)and WFXI/WYDO (FOX) are the only affiliate doing HD news for over a year.

In the UK, ITV London has launched the first UK HD local news broadcasts here (I think) - though strangely it is part of a cost-cutting measure.

Until recently ITV London and ITV National News had separate studios - both SD. ITV London was a 'real' studio, ITV National was a virtual studio (all green-screen). They upgraded the ITV National studio from 16:9 SD to HD a few weeks back (HD Studio cameras, HD graphics, SD 16:9 live and pre-recorded field reports) - and have now moved ITV London into the same studio (with an HD virtual recreation of their former 'real' set). AFAIK all the other ITV regional news programmes are still 16:9 SD. This has allowed them to run both operations from a single studio - reducing crew costs etc.

It is expected that BBC Scotland will have HD local (well national in UK terms) news when BBC One HD splits into 4 new services - BBC One England HD, BBC One Scotland HD, BBC One Wales HD and BBC One Northern Ireland HD. This is due to happen sometime over the next 6 months I believe. However AIUI Cardiff and Belfast only have SD 16:9 production studios for their local (aka national) bulletins - so even when their HD variants of BBC One launch, their local News will be upscaled 16:9 SD, whereas Glasgow has had HD capable facilities for a number of years I believe.

(All UK news production has been 16:9 SD for many years now. The BBC switched to HD studios for their BBC One National News during the Olympics - as their on-site studios were HD capable - but has since returned to their main SD studios in West London. They are currently moving to a new HQ in Central London, and as BBC One programmes move they are switching to HD. Two Sunday political programmes have already moved and are HD already.)

WCHS (ABC, Charleston, WV) and WVAH (Fox, Charleston, WV) converted to HD local news on September 29, according to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCHS-TV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WVAH-TV

According to their weeknight anchor, WPTA/WISE in Fort Wayne will be in HD as of tonight's late newscast. (Must be true, both skipped the 6PM news.)

ETA: Indeed they are. Market complete.
Edited by NoToLowPower - 10/14/12 at 9:59pm

WFMJ (NBC, Youngstown, OH) started HD local news on October 13.

An example from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjYJQ8t--0E

WICU (NBC) and WSEE (CBS) in Erie both went full HD this week.
Still nothing for WJET/WFXP

WICU 16x9 1080i
WSEE 16x9 1080i
WBEP/WSEE-DT2 (The CW) is 1080i (can't confirm since it's not on Time Warner Cable's HD service)
and

http://www.erietvnews.com/story/20034211/lilly-broadcasting-goes-high-definition
http://i.imgur.com/ic23Y.jpg WICU's set
Edited by shooter21198 - 11/7/12 at 3:40pm

You can add Nexstar's KFDX/KJTL in Wichita Falls to the list. The duo have been in HD since late July from this video post, courtesy of its Youtube page. Two stations also have new logos to accomodate with the HD launch.

Also, In Kansas, Digital Widescreen KSNW 3 in Wichita, switched to High Definition on July 17, 2011. KSNW sister station KSNT 27 in Topeka, along with KTKA 49 & KTMJ 43 have been operating in HD since October 8, 2012.

Plus, News-Press & Gazette's new flagship television property in St. Joseph, Missouri, KNPN-LD FOX 26 in signed-on on June 2, 2012. The station has been airing HD news from the start. WVVA in the Bluefield/Beckley/Oak Hill market has been HD since June 2012. This is the first in the market and this makes its entire station group company, Quincy Newspapers of Quincy, Illinois operating its stations in HD. From this video post, KERO 23 ABC in Bakersfield also started its high definition newscast on October 1st, 2012. New Scripps Graphics and set also was implemented. Also KFVS 12 in Cape Girardeau has been in High Definition since late July 2011!!!! KBSI, which 12 produce its news to the FOX, is included into the HD upgrade.

And finally from this AVS post from October 21, 2010, WTVD's newscast airing on WLFL CW 22 in the Triangle region is also in HD.
Edited by csworldwide1 - 11/22/12 at 2:54pm

Nexstar's WCIA-3 Champaign news went HD on 10/25.

WICS-20 Springfield is in the process of going HD, but that hasn't happened yet; they are still doing newscasts from a temporary set...

Starting around October 22 WABC-DT NYC is doing all remotes in HD.
The only NYC stations not doing any HD remotes are WNYW-DT FOX5 and WWOR-DT My9.