[Alan Dail]

Why is it that CBS broadcasts college football games in HDTV, but not NFL football games? Does anyone know if they plan to start using HDTV in the NFL this year? It's crazy - on HDNet and CBS I can see college footbal and basketball games in HDTV for teams I don't care about watching, but I can't see any NBA or NFL games on HDTV anywhere (Fox's 480p widescreen doesn't really count). I don't understand why MNF isn't even in HDTV. I'm getting a 1336x769 projector (HS10) and would love to see some professional sports in 720p or 1080i on it. College football is strange too. The SEC title game is in HDTV, but the fiesta bowl (with Ohio State going for the national championship) isn't.

 

[jckessler]

MNF football will be HD next fall. About CBS and the NFL, no announcements have been made yet. I wouldn't hold my breath.


Sports in HD are generally very spotty still, unfortunately.

 

[Ken H]

Quote:

Originally posted by Alan Dail Why is it that CBS broadcasts college football games in HDTV, but not NFL football games? Does anyone know if they plan to start using HDTV in the NFL this year? It's crazy - on HDNet and CBS I can see college footbal and basketball games in HDTV for teams I don't care about watching, but I can't see any NBA or NFL games on HDTV anywhere (Fox's 480p widescreen doesn't really count). I don't understand why MNF isn't even in HDTV. College football is strange too. The SEC title game is in HDTV, but the fiesta bowl (with Ohio State going for the national championship) isn't.

The explanation you seek has been discussed here many times in the past. In a nutshell, it all comes down to sponsorship and viewers. HDTV viewers probably represent less than 1% of the entire TV audience.


For the SEC college football games, CBS has a deal with Sears & Samsung and the assumption is that more shoppers will be in the stores to see the games on Saturday than on Sunday.


ABC did the 1999 season of MNF in HDTV in connection with Panasonic, but could not find another partner to help foot the bill.


Looking forward, it's been announced the 2003 Superbowl on ABC and next season's MNF will be in HDTV. ESPN will also carry some NFL in HDTV next season.


In 2000-2001 CBS did a number of NFL playoff games & the Superbowl in HDTV, so it's always possible they would do some of this years AFC playoff games in HD.


For the latest info on this subject, read the HDTV Programming Synopsis at the top of this page.

 

[spwace]

The main difference between College Football and the NFL is that College games are always nationally broadcast and NFL games are broadcast regionally. Whichever game was done in HD would only be available in a limited number of markets. On the other hand, the additional cost of doing FOX widescreen is much lower than it is for HD.

 

[Alan Dail]

How much more does it add to the cost to broadcast in HDTV for something like MNF if they already have the equipment? It seems crazy that they spend as much as they do to get the rights to broadcast MNF, then don't spend the extra money to give it the best possible picture.


To say the HDTV market is too small to justify the extra cost is wrong too - because something like MNF in HDTV would get more people to buy HDTV sets. Same thing for the Fiesta Bowl. I bet a lot of people would take the HDTV plung for that game if it was broadcast in HDTV.

 

[Ken H]

Quote:

Originally posted by Alan Dail How much more does it add to the cost to broadcast in HDTV for something like MNF if they already have the equipment?

They don't have the equipment. The mobile production unit was subsidized by Panasonic and since a new deal with ABC could not be reached, it was sold after the 2001 NHL All Star Game.

Quote:

To say the HDTV market is too small to justify the extra cost is wrong too - because something like MNF in HDTV would get more people to buy HDTV sets. Same thing for the Fiesta Bowl. I bet a lot of people would take the HDTV plung for that game if it was broadcast in HDTV. [/b]

You will not get any argument about that around here, unfortunately we do not hold the purse strings for the 3 networks that currently broadcast the NFL.

 

[Alan Dail]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken H They don't have the equipment. The mobile production unit was subsidized by Panasonic and since a new deal with ABC could not be reached, it was sold after the 2001 NHL All Star Game.

Well, they are reacquiring the equipment at least in time for the super bowl (and for ESPN-HD and next years MNF). Why not bump that up a few weeks and at least use it for the fiesta bowl as well.

 

[Ken H]

Quote:

Originally posted by Alan Dail Well, they are reacquiring the equipment at least in time for the super bowl (and for ESPN-HD and next years MNF). Why not bump that up a few weeks and at least use it for the fiesta bowl as well.

If only it were that simple. I don't know for sure, but if your idea was possible ABC would have already announced it. My guess is that they are on a very tight schedule to get all the ducks in a row for the Superbowl in HDTV and they'll need every last minute to do so.