[opendtv] News: No Motive for HDTV Rollouts
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 07:18:35 -0400
No Motive for HDTV Rollouts
June 24, 2004 12:00am
Source: Reed Business Information - US
Multichannel News via NewsEdge Corporation : New=20
York-- Several top MSO, programming and ad-agency=20
officials last week said they view HDTV as a cost=20
of doing business -- not as a big potential=20
profit center.
"Specific profitability, I think, is lost in the=20
long term," said Fred Dressler, Time Warner=20
Cable's executive vice president of programming.=20
"Everybody in the beginning was looking for a way=20
to profit from this thing. ... There really isn't=20
a revenue stream."
Dressler made his remarks during a Cable &=20
Telecommunications Association for Marketing of=20
New York panel titled "Leveraging HDTV: Putting=20
Profit in the Picture." And most of Dressler's=20
fellow panelists agreed with him that HDTV, while=20
an eventual necessity likened to the transition=20
from black and white to color TV, wasn't a likely=20
future gold mine for either distributors or cable=20
networks.
Both Dressler and Mike Rahimi, senior vice=20
president of marketing for Mediacom=20
Communications Corp., said they've never actually=20
paid a broadcaster for HDTV content. In fact,=20
Dressler described Emmis Broadcasting Corp.'s=20
efforts to get cash for its stations' HDTV=20
signals as "greed."
He also brought up NBC's attempts to get MSOs to=20
foot some of the bill for offering Olympic=20
coverage in HDTV.
"NBC came to cable operators and said, 'You want=20
to carry the Olympics in high-def?' " Dressler=20
told attendees. "We said sure, and they said,=20
'Pay us.' They said, 'We can't afford to do it if=20
you don't pay us.' And we said well, we're not=20
going to pay for it, and they said, "OK, no=20
high-def.' The next thing you know, they're doing=20
it in high-def. And you say, wait, who's paying=20
for it? Not cable operators."
Panelist Dennis Quinn, executive vice president=20
of business development for Turner Broadcasting,=20
told the overflow crowd of CTAM attendees that=20
consumers expect a top cable network like Turner=20
Network Television -- which holds high-profile=20
sports rights to program the National Association=20
for Stock Car Auto Racing and National Basketball=20
Association -- to offer HDTV.
Turner just launched a standalone service, TNT=20
HD. "It's strategic real estate," Quinn said.
He recalled that when TNT was negotiating=20
recently with Steven Spielberg about a new=20
miniseries, one of the director's first questions=20
was whether it would be shot in HDTV.
"It is the price of being a leader long-term," Quinn said.
On the agency side, panelist Tim Hanlon, senior=20
vice president at Starcom MediaVest Group, argued=20
that typically, producing HDTV programming is not=20
that much more costly than standard-definition=20
fare.
Of HD overall, Hanlon said, "From an advertising=20
and marketing perspective, it's a cost of=20
business going forward."
<<Multichannel News -- 06/21/04, p. 12>>
<< Copyright =A92004 Reed Business Information - US >>
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