Search results matching tag 'HD'

Tony Awards to Air in HD

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:52:23 GMT

The Tony Awards will be broadcast in high definition for the first time on June 7. The 63rd annual Tony Awards will air on CBS live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Presenters for the awards show include Lucie Arnaz, Kate Burton, Kristin Chenoweth, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Edie Falco, Will Ferrell, Carrie Fisher, Jane Fonda, Hallie Foote, James Gandolfini, Lauren Graham, Colin Hanks, Marcia Gay Harden, Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Lange, Frank Langella, Angela Lansbury, Audra McDonald, David Hyde Pierce, Piper Perabo, Oliver Platt, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Spacey, John Stamos and Chandra Wilson. Neil Patrick Harris will host the awards show, which will be executive produced by White Cherry Entertainment’s Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss.

Time Warner Cable to Carry Smithsonian Networks

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:59:26 GMT

Smithsonian Networks has signed a distribution deal with Time Warner Cable, making the cable provider its affiliate. Smithsonian Networks will join Time Warner Cable’s lineup of HD channels. The network also will offer content through different TWC platforms, including Road Runner High Speed Online, HD on Demand and enhanced TV services Start Over and Look Back. “We’re thrilled to be a part of the Time Warner Cable family,” Tom Hayden, general manager of Smithsonian Networks, said in a statement. “This gives us the opportunity to bring the award-winning, original, family-friendly, HD programming that Smithsonian Channel has been producing to a much wider audience through TWC’s multiple platforms.”

Dish Adds BET, MTV Channels in HD

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:13:04 GMT

Dish Network has made an agreement to add HD feeds for several of MTV Networks’ and BET Networks’ channels to its roster. CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike TV and VH1 now are available in HD at no additional cost to Dish customers with the Classic Bronze 100 HD and above package. Classic Silver 200 HD and above subscribers also can receive BET HD. “We are pleased to now offer our customers these top-rated high-definition channels, and we look forward to a long-term partnership with MTV Networks and BET Networks that includes broad video-on-demand and Internet streaming rights,” Dave Shull, senior VP of programming for Dish Network, said in a statement. “The launch of these channels is a testament to our continued HD leadership, as no one has more HD channels or a higher quality picture than Dish Network.”

MSNBC to Go HD on June 29

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:01:31 GMT

MSNBC will begin broadcasting in high-definition on June 29. MSNBC’s HD launch will build on the NBC News HD infrastructure that’s already in place. “MSNBC is in the best competitive place it’s ever been, beating CNN in primetime last month and continuing incredible growth,” Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, said in a statement. “Broadcasting in HD is only going to help us build on the great success we’ve had so far this year, and will give viewers what they’ve been asking for, a full high-definition broadcast of MSNBC.”

Response Rewards Quality Production

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:03:00 GMT

For regional and local business owners who use television as their lead medium, now may be a good time to discuss the actual look of television creative. The creative issue often gets by business owners, who seem to spend more time concerned with cost per points and audience delivery. In a recession, when expenses are slashed and all soft costs are eliminated, most CEOs are looking to cut advertising expense. But cutting waste is one thing; downgrading your look is another. If you want yours to be perceived as a quality company, then you should deliver a quality image in your advertising—especially in television advertising. Proper editing and pacing is essential to good quality. A recent campaign employed an editing technique so elaborate that I could not follow the ad even though I gave it 100% of my attention. I can only imagine the over-caffeinated editor cutting that ad at 3 a.m. in the back room of some remote production house. I’m sure that ad looked great to him. But I could not understand it at all. Simple works. Adult consumers prefer simple and easy-to-follow creative based on one visual image on the screen at a time. Younger viewers seem to gravitate more to “high-stimulation” video-game-style editing. It’s no wonder. Adults over the age of 50 grew up watching talking-head news anchors, while younger Americans grew up watching MTV. So when designing a television campaign today, we need to think about not just what programs and networks we choose, but also the tone of the ad itself. The airwaves are full of television commercials that consumers tell me are hard to follow. I take that to mean they simply can’t keep up with the flash edits and hyper tone of the ads. Apple Computer’s successful TV campaign put just two characters on screen for 30 seconds against a pure white background. It let the writing carry the message, and the dynamic between the two actors carry the story. Even Apple’s iPhone commercials are visually dumbed down so you are left with a feeling that the phone is simple to use as well. Clearly the tone and editing of your commercial affects consumer response to your ad. That brings us to high definition. HDTV sets are so inexpensive today that some are priced as low as $149. Many local advertisers are sticking to the traditional video format when shooting their commercials, often with the excuse that shooting in HD costs too much to be worth it. You Get What You Pay For The problem with this thinking is that when their ads run on the wider high-definition screens, their commercials appear shrunken because they are produced in the old 6:9 aspect ratio. This, plus the fact that the lower resolution makes everything appear fuzzier, including phone numbers, Web addresses and any other relevant display type intended to help the consumer buy. In effect, a high-def screen cheats a traditional TV ad of impact. So is saving a few bucks in production really any savings at all? The CEO of a large chain store we consult for recently asked us if the $15,000 fee to shoot his ad in HD was worth it. We responded that his ads needed to “look national” if he wanted to pull in his fair share of the 30% market share a competitor recently left behind. Viewers judge your company based on their perception of value. If your ad looks cheap and local, then that will be the consumer’s interpretation as well. Back in the day, all clients wanted to shoot in film for a quality look. Today, HD video often looks better than film, and once you shoot your stock shots in HD, you can use them for a very long time, and in many formats. Sometimes we spend so much time perfecting a media plan that we ignore the fact that all the consumers ever see is your ad. They don’t see your genius at placing and negotiating TV time and Web space. They just see an ad. So importance commensurate with that crucial exposure needs to be given the look and feel of your creative message. Remember these simple things: Make the logo prominent, the Web address easy to remember, the voice-over concise and clear, the music understated and not distracting, the lighting high quality, the talent convincing, the graphics legible. Spot-check a few of your recent commercials to be sure you are delivering on all of these points. How can you afford to shoot your ads in HD without breaking the bank, or blowing the media plan budget on production? Locate an independent HD producer in your city. I’ve never had a problem finding talented producers looking for immediate paid work. Negotiate a fair rate to shoot only stock shots—the simple exteriors, employee-customer interaction, zoom-in and zoom-out shots for use at the beginning and end of the ad, close-up reaction shots. In many cases the tab for a day of HD shooting will be less then $15,000 and the footage can be used for five years or more. Once you have the shots, you can re-edit them so your ads stay fresh for a very long time. When you amortize these production costs over a number of years, the HD expense suddenly seems nominal. With HD footage you will enjoy the following benefits: Your TV ads look clear. Your TV ads have a high-grade look in terms of color and tonal quality. Your TV ads compare in quality to those of the national advertisers. You achieve the image of professionalism. Moving local and regional businesses into higher-grade production can be a challenge when clients want to cut back budgets in the first place. But the cost of not upgrading can be a dull-looking campaign right when the consumer demands more. For your next campaign, go HD and bring your client the impact and results they want. Adam Armbruster is a senior partner with Red Bank, N.J.-based retail and broadcasting consulting firm Eckstein, Summers, Armbruster & Co. He can be reached at adam@esacompany.com or 941-928-7192.

NAB Show Adds Exhibitors, Attractions

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:31:55 GMT

The NAB Show will feature more than 70 new exhibitors and several new attractions. Electronic Arts, Phillips 3-D Solutions and 3ality Digital are among the exhibitors that will display their technological innovations for the first time on the show floor. They will join 1,600 companies, including 430 international exhibitors. The NAB Show also will feature pavilions dedicated to showcasing 3-D and mobile technologies. The Content Commerce Pavilion will facilitate business-to-business information sharing and innovation. NHK will demonstrate its Ultra High Definition TV technology, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology will present the latest discoveries in holographic TV and 3-D HD transmission technologies. The NAB Show will be held April 18-23 in Las Vegas.

Column: Blame It on ‘The Boy From Oz’

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:30:00 GMT

Everyone has a breaking point. Mine is Hugh Jackman, because even though I consider myself among the hardiest of broadband-video converts, I just will not miss the chance to see Hugh Jackman in high definition. So I’m coming back into the traditional television fold for one night only—the Academy Awards on ABC. What? You think I’m not strong enough, not tough enough, not committed enough to the cable-free cause? I remain a faithful cord-cutter, unencumbered by satellite or cable programming. In fact, I’ll be kicking it old school, watching good old-fashioned over-the-air TV on Feb. 22, the night of the Oscars. The movie fete won’t be carried live online, so I have no other choice but to watch it via broadcast TV. I conducted some online research to figure out how to receive over-the-air TV in high definition without a cable or satellite box. When you have a hi-def set (mine is a Sony Trinitron), you need to purchase an antenna specifically to receive the digital feeds of broadcast stations. I called on my favorite hi-def guru, Pete Putman, for antenna tips. He’s the editor of HDTVExpert.com and he pointed me to TVFool.com. The site analyzes your location to determine which broadcast TV signals are available in your area. I learned that I’m about 13 miles from the San Francisco ABC affiliate, KGO-TV, and that means most antennas should do the trick for my home. TVFool also told me that an indoor set-top antenna would be sufficient to pick up all the local channels in San Francisco. Mr. Putman recommended three antenna options from Radio Shack. I swung by the local Radio Shack and picked up the $34.99 model (I like Hugh, but hey, there is a recession going on and I don’t need the priciest one). But when I set up the antenna, I was greeted only with extremely fuzzy reception. I Twittered about my woes and checked alternate sites like antennaweb.org, which also told me that an indoor antenna should be all I need. My tech friends on Twitter said indoor antennas stink like rotten fruit and only an outdoor antenna could do the job. So I called Radio Shack back so see if it carried outdoor antennas. The sales associate told me I could spend $20 million on an outdoor antenna and I still wouldn’t get good reception, because of a little topographical issue called a lot of hills. As in hills that are smack dab between my house and the TV towers in San Francisco. Before I gave up, I asked my husband to test the antenna. Within 20 seconds KGO and all the other local stations were piping quite nicely into our home. Turns out I missed the step where you actually have to program the channels into the remote control. To be fair, though, the local stations are just a tiny bit snowy. And guess why? Because my lovely hi-def TV set isn’t capable of receiving over-the-air stations in hi-def, according to the specs in the manual. So I could buy a hi-def tuner for $150 or $200. Or I could just call my sister-in-law and go watch the Boy From Oz at her house, where she has real TV.

Sunday's 'Simpsons' Goes HD, Updates Title Sequence

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:17:35 GMT

"The Simpsons" is finally going HD—and, in what some fans might consider an even bigger development, getting a new opening title sequence as well.

Both events will take place Sunday, Fox said during a promo for "The Simpsons" that aired as part of Wednesday night's "American Idol." The network actually made a low-key announcement of the news late last month, casually mentioning the developments as part of its episodic listings of various shows.

According to Fox, Sunday's "Simpsons"—entitled "Take My Life, Please"—will include the first full, permanent revamp of the show's opening titles since its premiere in 1989. The last few seconds of the title sequence have long featured a different weekly "couch gag." Fox also airs both a full-length and an abbreviated version of the credits.

While "The Simpsons" has never aired in high-def, Sunday's episode won't be the first time fans of the show have been able to see Homer and Co. in their full digital splendor on television. HBO aired "The Simpsons Movie" in HD last year.

While most live-action scripted network shows now air in HD, animation hasn't been as quick to make the leap, although that's starting to change. The producers of "South Park" recently announced their Comedy Central series would go HD starting with its 13th season, which bows March 11.

Cablevision’s iO Adding 15 HD Channels

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Cablevision is adding 15 premium channels to its iO TV high-definition lineup, including HD channels from HBO, Showtime, Encore, Cinemax and Starz, the company announced Wednesday. The new channels arrive hot on the heels of the removal of Voom HD’s 15 channels from the cable system in late January. Voom HD announced it would fold its U.S. distribution in December after EchoStar dropped the suite of channels last May. “Cablevision is pleased to add 15 new channels to the iO TV high-definition lineup, and expand the range of entertainment options available to customers in the superior HD format,” John Trierweiler, Cablevision’s senior VP of product management, said in a statement. “We continue to enhance the iO TV experience by delivering more value and customer choice without the extra equipment costs or programming package fees charged by our competitors,” he added. The 15 premium channels arriving on Cablevision over the next three days include the HD feeds of Encore, Starz Kids & Family, Starz Edge, HBO Signature, HBO Family, HBO Comedy, HBO Zone, HBO2, HBO Latino, Action MAX, More Max, @Max, Outer Max, ShowtimeToo and Showtime Showcase.

Flat-Screen TVs Going for the Green

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT

TV is good with green, with environmentally friendly flat-screen television sets expected to account for more than half of the market by 2011, display industry analyst firm DisplaySearch said in a new report. Green displays are expected to have eco-friendly components, save power through new technologies, involve environmentally friendly design and production or use some form of green production design. “Energy savings is a hot topic globally, whether the economy is good or bad. Displays often have the highest power consumption of any component in electronics products,” said David Hsieh, VP of DisplaySearch. DisplaySearch forecast that 2009 will be a big year for green product implementation, as environmental regulations and the possibility of production cost reduction once technologies mature are spurring flat-panel producers to seek out eco-friendly designs. For comparison, 20% of flat-panel shipments included green features in 2008. DisplaySearch said it expects that to grow to 33% by the end of 2009. The firm said it expects eco-friendly flat-panel penetration to reach 55% of the market in 2011 as consumers become more aware of the product. DisplaySearch said it anticipates 100% market penetration of green screens in 2014.