Waiting for HD syndication on your local affiliates? CBS, Warner and Ascent Media can fix that
We've seen your complaints about many of the syndicated shows that have switched to HDTV broadcasts lately, wondering why they don't show up like that in your area. The fact is, many local affiliates can't / haven't spent the cash on equipment capable of handling all the syndicated programming out there in HD, but Ascent Media, Warner Bros. and CBS are creating a joint venture to fix that, ensuring their hard work creating all that HD (& HD ads, lets not forget) doesn't go to waste. We spoke to Senior VP of Ascent Media Rich Fickle and he broke down the plan where the joint venture will pay for and distribute the equipment to more than 800 affiliates (Which ones? Expect major network affiliates, top 100 markets and many others with a list out before the service launches) that will allow them to receive one MPEG-4 HDTV formatted copy via satellite -- instead of the dual SD and HD feeds distributed currently -- that can then be downconverted for SD broadcasts at their location as well as broadcast the way they were meant to be seen. The equipment will start shipping out in the coming months but it's likely the service will launch around the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year. Who's ready for some remastered Star Trek: TOS, Jeopardy & Seinfeld?
