The Change Mariner

More Consumers Tune to HDTV

NYNewsDay:
After years of false promises and halting starts, HDTV -- the ultimate in TV picture sharpness -- finally appears to be ready for prime time. A combination of lower prices and more HD programming, bolstered by the trend toward spending more on in-home comforts, has helped accelerate the flow to high-definition television.

More than 2.4 million HDTV sets were sold in the United States in the 12 months ended in September, according to the NPD Group, a research firm based in Port Washington. That's a 50 percent jump from a year earlier and triple the number sold two years ago.

"This is going to happen much, much faster than anyone thought even six months ago," Bryan Burns, vice president of strategic business planning at ESPN, which has launched an HD channel, said at a recent SportsBusiness Journal media and technology conference in Manhattan.

Industry analysts, executives and retailers say there are a number of reasons HDTV is gaining traction and that this holiday shopping season should provide a key test.

The lowest price tags have dropped to $599 for a 26-inch set, down from $1,000 a year ago, although prices for a 63-inch flat-panel set can reach as high as $20,000. High-definition programming, while still too scarce for HDTV junkies, has become available enough to justify the purchase for more consumers. Cable TV companies are offering 60 million homes set-top boxes that transmit HD signals, often for no extra fee to digital customers or $5 to $10 extra per month, while satellite TV providers offer HD packages for about $10 extra per month. And sleek flat-panel sets that adorn walls have captivated shoppers, even if their prices are still out of reach for many. "It's the near equivalent of moving from black-and-white to color," Charles Dolan, chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp., the biggest cable operator in the New York metro area, said of the growing popularity of high-definition television.

Dolan has tried to catch the trend by launching a nationwide satellite TV service called Voom that will feature 39 HD channels, compared with five to 10 channels at competing satellite and cable companies. "High definition will quickly become the standard," he said at the satellite TV industry's SkyForum conference.

Twenty-one of those channels -- including one with art gallery tours, two with sports and 13 featuring movies -- are being created for Voom by the Rainbow Media division of Bethpage-based Cablevision. Dolan, who recently put a 61-inch HDTV set in his Oyster Bay home, says the key to sparking more interest in HDTV is providing a lot more programming.

Skeptics, however, still abound. They say that beyond the most rabid of HDTV fans, who are endlessly enthralled by the clarity of fish swimming, dust settling and tennis balls flying, the market may be limited. And even the zealots may be frustrated by the shortage of programming that takes full advantage of high definition.

"I don't think the high-definition transition is like black-and-white to color," Ken Aagard, senior vice president for operations at CBS Sports, said at the SportsBusiness Journal conference. "I think high definition is just going to be another niche."