The Weather Channel HD to debut later this year
The Weather Channel finally set a timetable for the debut of its long-awaited high definition broadcast for the second half of this year. The 24 hour network says one of its biggest challenges is redoing all of the weather graphics for HDTV, while still looking good on 4x3 SDTV screens. The channel will be one of DirecTV's new stations, but also expects to hit cable networks very soon. Cable headends will have to upgrade their equipment to allow for HD inserts of localized weather broadcasts which should be deployed next year. If you're a fan of those "live from the hurricane" shots, the Weather Channel plans to convert those gradually, along with all of its studio-based shows making the change to 1080i by mid-2008.
