Local news in top 50 markets has always been a "me too" game. Helicopters, live trucks, SNG, Weather Radar, etc. Add "Now in HD!!" to the list. In a competitive market, once one station switches, the others usually follow suit. And it's a relatively easy engineering task to convert a studio to HD, as it is self contained.
Does HD really draw in or retain viewers? Perhaps in the short run, but eventually viewers will drift back to the station with the content they like best.
However, I'm sure the 2008 market meltdown and lethargic recovery since has slowed the appetite for stations to spend 6 figures or more to upgrade their studios. So the conversion rates for 2010 and 2011 are believable. The 2009 conversions are usually from money already committed in 2008 to the project.
I notice nobody is doing news in 3D yet... John----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
P.S. Do you really think that upgrading newscasts to HD is going to bring the viewers back?And who is Scott Pelly anyway? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
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