Putting HDTV on the map in Oklahoma

I noticed during the NBC Nightly News and earlier on some other show that KFOR’s DTV crawl was superimposed over an HD broadcast. Previously, KFOR had to drop out of an HD broadcast to run the FCC-mandated crawl over network programming. Do you think they have new equipment? I guess we’ll know when a thunderstorm occurs in the Panhandle…

On Monday, Dish and I finally hooked up to upgrade my MPEG-2 receiver (Dish 811) to an MPEG-4 receiver (Dish 211). They also replaced my Dish 500 dish with a Dish 1000 that sees the 110, 119 and 129 satellites.

I upgraded my programming package from the 5-channel HD legacy pack to 44 channels of Dish Absolute (not including pay-per-view or premiums) goodness. If I cared, one of the five PPV channels is now 1080p and with the software update my black Dish 211 receiver could get it.

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DirecTV 11 is up and broadcasting. DirecTV now simulcasting the lower 100 MPEG2 HD channels in MPEG-4 format on the channels below. So if you have problems getting a satellite signal from 119 you may be in luck.

ESPN-HD (206)
ESPN2-HD (209)
TNT-HD (245)
HD Theater (281)
HBO-HD (501)
Showtime HD (537)
Universal HD (259)

In addition, the following channels have new channel assignments:

HDNet (306)
HDNet Movies (552)
WCBS-HD (390)
WNBC-HD (392)
WABC-HD (396)
FOX NY HD (398)

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Dish network announced today that they will have 150 HD channels by the end of 2008. They will also start doing 1080p VOD in August.

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On the heals of the CBS Evening News going HD, ABC World News Tonight with Charles Gibson is going HD September.

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DirecTV will be launching around 30 HD channels on August 14th, some of these channels include Showtime Extreme HD, Showtime Showcase HD, Planet Green HD, ABC Family HD, additional DIRECTV HD pay per view channels and an additional 23 Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) in HD 24 hours a day.

DirecTV will be also launching some movie channels in 1080p with the MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding standard. This will be very interesting.

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Well here it comes the first wave of probably many articles coming out about people having negative experiences with DTV tuners. I bought one of these to $49 DTV tuners at Walmart we will see how it stacks up.

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OU has released renderings as to what the new HD scoreboard will look like.

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Reuters reports:

DISH Network Corp's plans to roll out more high definition video channels received a boost in the early hours of Wednesday after the successful launch of its EchoStar XI broadcast satellite.

DISH gets HD boost with successful satellite launch.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, CBS will officially take Evening News with Katie Couric into the HDTV era Monday, July 28, when it will begin broadcasting in the 1080-line interlace format.

CBS Sets Date for Evening News in HD

No word yet on when Fox and ABC, the last two holdouts will begin broadcasting their nightly newcasts in HD. We also haven’t heard when any local station will begin broadcasting local news in HD.

In the Sunday Oklahoman an article about the Ford Open house Saturday has a quote from Tim Linville saying that they are working lighting and wiring issue due to the demand for HDTV.

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My take on this is that local HDTV NBA Bastketball is coming to the Oklahoma City market. Cox will probably be the main distributor. No TV package has been annouced at this time. I am not sure if you can get the local games if you subscribe to the NBA league pass if you have DirecTV or Dish. Blackout rules my apply here. Maybe someone can let us know.

DISH NETWORK® MEETS 100 HD CHANNEL MARK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE; ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF 17 MORE NATIONAL HD CHANNELS

Introduces Industry-First TurboHD, the Only 100% HD Service, Available August 1

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — July 10, 2008 — DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) today announced plans to launch 17 national HD channels, surpassing its goal of reaching 100 national HD channels five months ahead of schedule. The new HD channels that will be added are:
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Tulsa Customers Can Now Enjoy Next-Generation Integrated TV, Internet, Wireless and Voice Services - All on One Bill

TULSA, Okla., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Tulsa-area residents now have a new — and better — choice for their television and communications services. AT&T Inc. NYSE: T today announced the launch of the company’s integrated suite of AT&T U-verse(SM) services, including AT&T U-verse TV, AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet and AT&T U-verse Voice.

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I am curious if other cable operators or users are having problems receiving KFOR-DT UHF 27.

NBC Universal has purchased the Weather Channel for just under $3.5 billion dollars. This could be the end of NBC Weather Plus