March 2, 1998
Local market to get early look at HDTV
Nancy J. Kim Staff Writer
KCTS-TV's newest production, "Over Ireland," is heavy on sweeping aerial shots of the Emerald Isle's lush land, its steep rocky cliffs and its rugged coastline.
It's shot in high-definition television, or HDTV, the new, much-hyped digital TV standard coming to Seattle this fall.
Showcasing HDTV's sharp resolution and wide-screen format, "Over Ireland" captures subtle shades of green, casts ruins in sharp relief and draws the viewer in through the format's seemingly three-dimensional quality.
KCTS will broadcast digitally in early 1999. Several commercial stations in Seattle plan to air some HDTV programming this fall, a year ahead of the deadline set by the government for the switch to digital transmission.
The Federal Communication Commission has mandated commercial stations in the 10 largest U.S. markets activate their digital signals by May 1, 1999. Seattle, the 12th-largest market, has until November 1999 to begin digital transmission. Public stations aren't required to convert until 2003.
Explaining the Seattle market's rush to go digital, Burnill Clark, president and chief executive of KCTS, said the influence of the software and technology industry has spurred broadcasters here to embrace the digital revolution.
"When we create this material for digital programs, it can be digitized for CD-ROMs and other digital formats," said Clark. He pointed to the revenue opportunity that creates for his station, which has been forced to act more entrepreneurially in the face of reduced federal funding for public television.
As KCTS forges its pioneering role as an HDTV producer, the local commercial stations are shelling out millions of dollars to convert their old analog infrastructures.
Estimates of how much a station will spend in upgrading a studio spiral into the double-digit millions.
"It will cost $9 million to $12 million just to pass a digital signal through and have some production capabilities. To completely convert (a station) from stem to stern, you're into higher numbers," said Dick Warsinske, general manager of Seattle's ABC station, KOMO-TV.
KOMO and local NBC affiliate KING-TV already have purchased their new transmitters. Fox station KCPQ-TV spent at least $20 million to build an all-digital studio completed last fall, but it will cough up $2.5 million more for a new antenna and transmitter.
KIRO-TV is the only major network affiliate in Seattle that plans to wait until fall 1999 to air its digital signal.
Those planning for this fall must figure out where to mount the new transmitters. KCPQ claims to have one of the best spots, on Gold Mountain about six miles west of Bremerton.
"We'd like to collaborate with another station to share costs," said Larry Brandt, chief engineer for the local Fox affiliate.
KOMO's Warsinske declined to comment on whether the ABC station is considering sharing a site with the Fox affiliate. KING-TV plans to mount its from the same place where its analog transmitter now hangs.
Meanwhile, UPN affiliate KSTW-TV is standing pat. Unlike the major network affiliates in Seattle, KSTW hasn't bought a scrap of digital equipment because it doesn't intend to broadcast HDTV this fall.
"When consumers start to purchase (digital) equipment, then we will start to purchase equipment ... consumers are the ones that are going to dictate it," said Dick Williams, general manager of KSTW-TV in Tacoma.
And television executives are all guessing how quickly the Seattle viewers will replace their old tubes.
HDTV sets -- boasting cinema-quality video and CD-caliber audio -- will be priced dearly, between $5,000 and $10,000, according to Jim Tweten, president and chief executive of Seattle electronics chain Magnolia Hi-Fi. The smallest models will have 40-inch diagonal screens, rectangular like movie theater screens, and they will require speakers and new cabinetry.
But HDTV sets are just one of several options consumers will have. HDTV represents the highest-resolution digital format. Other sets will be digital but won't boast the same picture quality of a true HDTV model. And manufacturers also have committed to producing converter boxes that will enable analog tubes to accept digital signals.
A trade association called the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association conservatively estimates 30 percent of U.S. households will have digital sets by 2006.
Asked how Seattle households would compare against other markets, Warsinske said: "This market will lead to some degree. It's more affluent than some of the bigger markets. It's higher educated and has the technology influence. But this isn't going to be an overnight thing."
To be sure, the quantity and quality of high-definition programming will influence the rate at which viewers convert.
Thus far, TV networks have said little -- not even to their affiliates -- concerning how much HDTV programming will be available this fall.
KING's director of programming, Jay Cascio, said the station doesn't know yet what the NBC network and its syndicators will provide in high-definition programming.
Warsinske said KOMO is on schedule to broadcast digital this fall but echoed Cascio's uncertainty about specific shows and movies slated to air in high-definition this fall.
By contrast, KCTS has a library of HDTV programs including "Over Ireland" and "Chihuly Over Venice" -- documenting glass blowing in a flourish of hue and texture in high-definition -- produced by its staff. Like other high-definition programs KCTS has created, "Over Ireland" will air in an analog first, premiering in March.
The public station has shot about 14 high-definition projects and will rebroadcast that content, including its "Over" series of aerial programs -- "Over America," "Over Beautiful British Columbia," "Over California" -- when the PBS station flips on its digital signal in 1999.
"When opportunities for production come up, people think of us ... Nobody else is really producing HDTV content," said Steve Welch, director of HDTV production for KCTS.
"Even commercial stations are calling us."
c 1998, Puget Sound Business Journal |
