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This article by Ken Kerschbaumer, not even a month old, talks about recent events in the national landscape that were broadcast in high-definition. President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address, which was given on January 20, 2004, was the first presidential speech to be received by the nation with this technology. Obviously, it’s not exactly the event that HDTV was created for, but this could be a sign of how far the technology has come. Just a few years ago, the nation was in the midst of a cat-and-mouse situation in which consumers held off from buying HDTV-ready equipment until more programming that used this technology to the fullest became available and TV producers were reluctant to offer much high-definition programming until more consumers decided to invest in the expensive equipment. However, now that both sides have taken the initiative and done their parts, we see more HDTV programs that are being picked up by more and more viewers. Additionally, a climate has been created in which such non-events as a presidential speech can be broadcast in HDTV within reasonable financial means. A by-product of this is the significant decrease in price of high-definition equipment; for example, a top of the line HDTV-ready set debuted at around $20,000 and has today fallen to well under $12,000. A similar reduction in price has been seen on lower-end models, which has led discount stores like Wal-Mart to enter the HDTV retail landscape.
Kerschbaumer also profiles the specifics that led to the broadcast of the February 1, 2004, Super Bowl XXXVIII in HDTV format. However, this event was not exactly a first – it is the fourth Super Bowl to be broadcast in high-definition. In total, CBS, which in addition to this year’s big game also produced the first Super Bowl in HDTV three years ago, used 26 high-definition cameras for the production. It seems excessive – and may be, depending on how you look at it – but HDTV owes much of its existence to the sports market, which is expected to be the biggest boost for the technology. Specifically, as regional networks, such as the New England Sports Network (NESN), begin to use HD for its broadcasts, the high-definition landscape could progress even further. The article also presents statistics from past years for the number of HD-ready televisions to be shipped from the factory to dealers and includes projections for the future. At the turn of the century, just over 500,000 units were sold, but projections for next year place the mark at well over 7 million. The market took a while to develop, but it appears to be headed in the right direction now.
