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HD channels showing SD programming

G

gbranch

You see this a lot on basic cable channels, but it occurs on broadcast TV as well. Why do channels that broadcast in HD show movies and other programming in SD? Are programming rights for HD programming negotiated separately from SD programming? A few specific examples:

Bravo HD and BBC America are both available in HD on Directv, but show very little HD programming. Most movies shown on these channels are shown in 4:3 SD. VH1 also shows movies in 4:3 SD on their HD channel.

Our local ABC affiliate has a 720p main channel, yet they show syndicated Wheel of Fortune in 4:3 SD. An NBC affiliate in a neighboring market with a 1080i main channel shows the same episode of WoF at the same time, but shows it in full 16:9 1080i.
 
Does your affiliate that's carrying Wheel Of Fortune have the capability of taking the HD feed of a given syndicated show? WFSB-TV (CBS) channel 3 of Hartford didn't carry much of their syndicated programming in HD for quite a while at first. Now pretty much everything local on the station is in HD.
 
That I don't know. They certainly have local HD capability as their local news is in 16:9 HD, but don't know if they are able to accept an HD feed for playback later. You would think that most all syndicated programming is sent via a digital file now, and the station just downloads the file from a server and plays it back at the appropriate time. Are stations still "recording" video feeds from a sat for syndicated programming?
 
The station may have the ability to do their news in HD but still not have an HD master control, which means that all the commercials and syndicated programming is in SD
 
KML-224 said:
Does your affiliate that's carrying Wheel Of Fortune have the capability of taking the HD feed of a given syndicated show? WFSB-TV (CBS) channel 3 of Hartford didn't carry much of their syndicated programming in HD for quite a while at first. Now pretty much everything local on the station is in HD.
Click to expand...
I don't think we want to see Vanna in HD.
 
On K13XD, the only syndicated shows they still air in SD for some reason are Entertainment Tonight and OMG! Insider; all others are in HD.
 
editthis said:
The station may have the ability to do their news in HD but still not have an HD master control, which means that all the commercials and syndicated programming is in SD
Click to expand...

That may be the issue, editthis. I took notice of their locally inserted commercials during their most recent newscasts, and all were in SD. Most were normal 4:3 SD with pillar boxes on both sides. A few were 16:9 SD, but had pillar boxes on the sides and top and bottom, so that the picture appeared "zoomed out" on a 16:9 screen.
 
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