CNN HD is ready whenever DirecTV is
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Sep 1st 2007 at 7:29PM
CNN HD launched today, but there's no one to notice, since the only carriage agreement in place is with DirecTV and since their newest bird DirecTV 10 won't be operational till later this month, they aren't ready for them. HD news is the latest rage, and CNN HD will be the first national 24 hour news channel presented in HD. And like other HD news, it will be a mix of SD and HD. Our favorite quote is, "We're not going to stretch our video." when asked how they would deal with 4:3 shots from their library clips and the newsgathering. The worst news is that they haven't upgraded their studio in Atlanta yet, so shows like The Situation Room with anchor Wolf Blitzernot won't be in HD. They are working to make it all HD by upgrading studios and the newsgathering cameras, but as we've learned, these things take time. The other thing that takes time are carriage agreements, which they say are also in progress. We've stopped trying to make sense of these negotiations, especially when you consider that Time Warner Cable and CNN HD are owned by the same company, yet CNN HD will debut on DirecTV. [Via DBSTalk]
Filed under: Satellite, New content
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
seamus2514 @ Sep 1st 2007 9:19PM
First off, TWC has reached a carriage agreement for both TBS HD and CNN HD. Second off, The situation Room is broadcasted from DC, not Atlanta. Get your facts straight.
Ben @ Sep 1st 2007 9:20PM
Both of those facts were specifically mentioned in the article I linked to. If you have a problem with them, I'd suggest you address them with the author of the original article.
Doug @ Sep 1st 2007 9:38PM
Burn seamus Burn
Brendan @ Sep 1st 2007 9:51PM
Ben didn't you know all those carriage agreements DirecTV has are BS, I mean who needs those? Dish network will broadcast everything with or without carriage agreements don't you know. /Sarcasm
Ben @ Sep 1st 2007 9:55PM
I most certainly don't know all of the carriage agreements. This post -- like many others on EHD -- is simply a synopsis of the linked article. We do generate our own news sometimes, but this is not one of those cases. If I did know something to contradict the article I would state it, but in this case, I have to assume they got the story right.
If you have a link to any other announcements concerning any of the facts in this story, I'd be glad to link to them and update the post.
Ben @ Sep 1st 2007 9:56PM
Heh, Didn't see the sarcasm tag, disregard the pervious post.
Ken @ Sep 1st 2007 10:22PM
Well, I will ignore the bickering and offer my take.
w00t! Nice!
This should allow them to do a lot more with the layout of the screen. Longer news ticker will be nice, graphics will be better, having multiple things on the screen at the same time will be great, etc.
Bring it on!
Tim Comolli @ Sep 2nd 2007 6:57AM
The article seems to ignore the fact that the HD News Voom channel has been doing this for a few years. OK so they don't have the stringers nor the affiliates that CNN does but they were certainly there first--and with no sidebars.
The Aggie CEO™ @ Sep 2nd 2007 8:40AM
this is still making me scratch my head.........
When can We Time Warner HD Customers Expect this??? and we it be Free with the HD Box like TNTHD, ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, and Discovery HD Theater???
TWC needs to get it together quick.........I mean I hate Satellite but whats the point in having an HDTV if I only have like 12 HD Channels??
GET IT TOGETHER TIME WARNER CABLE!!!
MrSatyre @ Sep 2nd 2007 10:55AM
I took a tour of CNN in Atlanta way back in '03, and after noticing all the HD monitors (everywhere) and cameras (few and far between), asked if CNN was actually shooting in HD. I was told by an exec that they were indeed shooting some studio content in HD on an experimental basis, but that on-the-scene shoots were still being done in SD. Amazing that it's taken them more than four years to finally get their show in HD on the air.
Stephen @ Sep 2nd 2007 1:53PM
Which is weird, because when I took a tour of CNN in NYC last year, they were the ones saying that it would take FOREVER to go HD, and they even pointed out all the BetaMax tapes laying around.
Guess things change rather quickly over there.
Michael @ Sep 4th 2007 3:57AM
Bring on the HD goodness, no matter what form! Who cares if some of the content is SD? The point is, door is open for everything HD, so while those other shows are playing catch-up, we still get more HD than we had before.
As for Time Warner; they need to get their franchise licensing straight if they want to continue serving content in certain areas: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20070901-9999-2m1carlstv.html
mtlove @ Sep 17th 2007 10:26PM
"CNN HD will be the first national 24 hour news channel presented in HD."
Sorry Ben, but false. HDNews launched in 2004.
Now to split hairs, the article you linked to is correct in saying "CNN is the first cable news network to launch an all-HD channel." B/c CNN is a 'news network' that launched CNN HD, while Voom is a HD content provider & not a news network, which launched the first news channel in HD.
Also, for all the die hard HD buffs, even after CNN HD starts arriving in homes, HDNews will still be the only 100% HD news network.
Dane Kantner @ Sep 19th 2007 7:26PM
yah but HDNews isn't live at all is it? it's all pre-recorded dan rather shows...
dane kantner @ Sep 27th 2007 1:28PM
p.s., for those watching and waiting... CNN HD is available on DirecTV as of today.
rumor mill is that comcast might carry it October 23 or some time in october