Fox posts
Warner Home Video has finally officially slated the Fringe: Season One Blu-ray set for September 8, and included a few details about what to expect on the 5 disc set. The audio tops out with a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, but there will be a special Fringe Pattern Analysis extra bringing in "experts" to dissect 6 select scenes with notes photos and diagrams aimed to fill the hearts of those dedicated enough to spot The 
Ever since FSN made it's 24/7 HD for 2009 proclamation futbol fans have wanted to know if that applies to them too, and the Goal soccer blog on the New York Times has the news on what to expect as the UEFA Champions League comes to Fox. Fox Sports International VP David Sternberg let it be known that Fox Soccer Channel isn't going to be high definition until the end of this year, so don't expect any FSC games in HD until February 2010. The good news? After the wait, we can expect broadcasts of proper HD feeds, rather than upconverted widescreen SD feeds seen sometimes on ESPN.They do plan 16 live games on FSN, plus the 2010 final on FX, while broadband viewers can expect streaming from Setanta, so if FSC isn't on your lineup yet, there can still be some HD of the Beautiful Game in your future.
We're not hopping off the 3D bandwagon, but just when things couldn't be going any better a fight over money could knock things off course. Fox apparently informed theaters it wouldn't foot the $1 million bill to cover 3D glasses for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and already word is leaking out that the nation's largest theater chain Regal Cinemas is planning to only screen the flick in 2D, with AMC Theaters and Cinemark poised to follow suit. For its part, Fox is claiming no exhibitor has said they won't be showing Ice Age in 3D and they're only "working out the issues." Of course if they did, the plan of offering 3D as something audiences can't get at home could be turned on its head quickly.
With DVD sales slipping, every studio is trying new strategies to eke out a buck, and now Fox is trying to coax people towards buying instead of renting, by selling stripped down versions of some movies to rental outlets and keeping premium extras for buyers. According to a letter obtained by Video Business, Slumdog Millionaire will be one of the first discs with the treatment, where extras like deleted scenes and commentaries go retail only on the DVD, while the rental Blu-ray edition loses the (probably useless on a rental) digital copy. At least so far the HD editions of these movies don't seem to be affected, but unless prices come down we wouldn't be surprised to see this kind desperation double dipping on the Blu-ray front as well. Still, with as many of our readers that have said they don't care about extras and the relative ease of piracy, studios may just have to learn to be happy people are paying to watch at all.
South Florida's NBC 6 became the first English-language network in the area to take its newscasts to high-def, but now those who refuse to watch news in SD finally have another choice. Starting this week, WSVN -- the FOX affiliate in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market -- will be airing its local news broadcasts in greater clarity, and now that this station has hopped on board, we reckon the outcasts will be following suit in short order.
Well, would you let your brain simmer on this a bit. American Idol, the famed singing competition that airs live numerous times per week when it's in full swing, was found to be the most timeshifted program in the USA in 2008. Granted, it's also the most watched show in the nation, but we digress. The significance here is that this tidbit, which was dug up by The Nielsen Company, goes to show that live competitions and so-called "topical" programming aren't as immune to DVRs as networks would love to believe. The data found that "an extra four million viewers watched Fox's American Idol in the seven days following the initial episodes." To us, the only true DVR-resistant programming is live sports -- the genuineness of the event just seems to fade when you're not watching in real time, but we can't say we've ever felt the same when watching Simon & Co. a few days after the fact.
We knew Fox was getting serious about high definition next year for sports production, now comes word it's switching all program distribution to HD: the Fox broadcast network, national cable channels, regional sports networks, Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. Starting in the first quarter they'll use Motorola MPEG-2 HD equipment exclusively, converting in real time to SD when necessary. All the new equipment should mean higher quality broadcasts, although as we've recently heard, they may be switching again before too long. Remember the old days when a lack of capacity held back HD NFL action, and we were happy to hear about college football coming to FSN HD?
Just in case you thought 3D was only for Thursday night NFL games and NBA playoff matchups, Fox Sports is broadcasting the first college football game in the format January 8. CEO David Hill dropped the info during the 3D Entertainment Summit, acknowledging plans to bring the 3D feed to CES (finally, we won't have to miss the big game this year -- like we'd ever watch an SD feed stretched on cheap hotel plasmas) and select movie theaters, but balked at pushing technology forward. Citing costs absorbed by broadcasters in switching to high definition, he's looking towards consumer electronics manufacturers to turn over HDTV profits and start another round of upgrades for early adopters. While they argue over who picks up the check we don't expect more than a few demos here or there, but with Panasonic, LG and others already taking the baton it's just a matter of time, maybe when ESPN takes over things full time in 2011?
Cincinnati's Fox 19 has come a long way over the years, but it's still lagging behind in one huge area: HD newscasts. Thankfully for residents of the Ohio city, all that's about to change... at least, according to news director Steve Ackermann. Reportedly, WXIX will move this week into its high-def-ready news set, and if all goes as planned, it could become the second station in the area to broadcast local news in HDTV within "a couple of weeks." We'll be watching.
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