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A look at Election Night ratings: ABC gains, others lose

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2008 at 11:11PM


We already gave you a shot to voice your opinion on which Election Night broadcast was supreme, but now it's time to dig into the cold, hard facts. With all four of the broadcast networks holding nothing back in order to offer a whiz-bang high-def presentation, it looks as if ABC can be most proud. According to data from Nielsen Media Research, ABC's viewership increased by 9% in total viewers compared to four years prior, and it drew an average of 13.1 million on the eve of November 4th. NBC remained competitive with 12.02 million viewers, but that still represented a loss of 18% from the last election; as for CBS, it notched just 7.83 million watchers and saw its election-over-election results slip 14%. For the full list of numbers and percentages, check the read link.

Poll: Which election night broadcast impressed you most?

by Darren Murph posted Nov 5th 2008 at 1:16AM


Election Night 2008 brought about an unprecedented amount of HD coverage, and while we're all in absolute agreement that CNN's "holographic" interviews were the comedy for the evening, we're interested on your take on how networks as a whole did with their high-def presentation. Was CBS' polished graphics set enough to overcome those embarrassing audio gaffes? Did ABC / FOX have the edge? Where did you find yourself tuned to most of the night? Drop your vote (hey, there's a concept!) below.

Which election night broadcast impressed you most?

Election '08 coming home in HD like never before

by Richard Lawler posted Nov 4th 2008 at 9:37PM


Sure, not every station's pulled out the Star Wars / Iron Man-style holograms for the 2008 election, but they're all trying to put shiny new HD studios to full use and get as many eyeballs as possible until things are decided. NBC & ABC immediately jumped out front at 7 p.m. with data pouring in on the widescreen edges of their HD feeds, with CNN waiting until states were decided to begin updating their lists. ABC's chosen to lean on its touchscreen display and forgo side graphics altogether, while despite Fox's claim as "America's Election HQ", with totally bare shoulders and boring sets, we're pointing our flatscreens elsewhere. PBS, despite airing the clearest, most high quality video available of three old guys at a table, has no slick touchscreens or HD graphics packages to speak of. Think about that as you check out the rest of the screens after the break, and during the next donation drive. Big Bird deserves better.

Continue reading Election '08 coming home in HD like never before

CNN's holographic freakout begins, seems totally bizarre and unnecessary

by Joshua Topolsky posted Nov 4th 2008 at 7:48PM

If you've been keeping your eyes fixed on CNN as this election unfolds, then by now you've seen Wolf Blitzer doing a "hologram" interview with Jessica Yellin. Not only does this technology seem completely creepy, but it's without a doubt one of the most useless and unnecessary pieces of phantasmagoric TV ever enacted. Enjoy some video and two more pics of the weirdness after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading CNN's holographic freakout begins, seems totally bizarre and unnecessary

CNN's Wolf Blitzer to interview hologram strategists on election night

by Darren Murph posted Nov 4th 2008 at 4:24PM

As the news networks spend oodles of cash in order to one-up the other with whiz-bang visuals and mind-melting charts, CNN is looking to blow just about everyone else away. As election night officially kicks off in just a few hours, the network's Wolf Blitzer will be conducting interviews with faraway strategists not via the traditional two-pane window, but by hologram. Believe it or not, professionals in Chicago and Phoenix will be beamed live to CNN's New York studios in order to give viewers a look at Wolf and a ghostly counterpart. Granted, this is far from the first holographic / 3D interview we've seen, but it is rather impressive given the scenario. In related news, we're also told that FOX News will be touting a "giant wall with touch-screen technology [that] will provide electoral map results," which hopefully translates in geek speak to "Surface."

[Via Hack-A-Day]

DISH Network refuses to be outdone, brings its own 2008 Election mosaic

by Darren Murph posted Oct 28th 2008 at 10:19PM

Just a week after DirecTV announced that it would be delivering eight feeds of 2008 Election coverage on a single channel, in steps DISH Network to prove that it's paying attention to its closest competition. Beginning today and running through November 7th, the satcaster's interactive mosaic will "update its multiple screen channel display to simultaneously air six 24-hour news channels during the 2008 election cycle." Viewers will have one-screen access on Channel 100 to FOX News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNN Headline News, CSPAN and CSPAN2, and in case that's not enough, users can also access the DISH Decision 2008 interactive application by mashing the "DISH" button on their remote.

Verizon gets political with FiOS1 local TV channel in DC Metro Area

by Darren Murph posted Oct 28th 2008 at 3:08PM


Now here's an interesting one. Verizon, the carrier who offers up FiOS TV, is actually getting set to launch its very own channel. Granted, it'll only be available to FiOS TV users -- and for now, users in the Washington, DC Metro area -- but still, it's a touch peculiar (albeit useful). For FiOS subscribers in Northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, you'll now be able to tune into Channel 1 (FiOS1, predictably), which will reportedly act as a "one-stop shop for local weather, traffic, news, sports and community features." From now until November 4th, however, it will be airing "rebroadcasts of the three presidential debates and the vice-presidential debate, as well as key speeches from the Democratic and Republican conventions." There's no mention of FiOS1 making a debut in other areas (nor of it going HD), but we'd keep an eye out on Channel 1 just in case.

Update: Seems FiOS1 has been available for a tick, but it's the political coverage that's changing things up. Thanks, urfloormatt!

DirecTV's Election Mix channel brings maximum coverage to one place

by Darren Murph posted Oct 21st 2008 at 7:50AM

DirecTV has a thing for offering up exclusives such as this in order to help fencesitters make the leap, so it's no shock to see the satcaster taking the multi-pane approach used primarily for sporting events to cover election night. As the US presidential election unfolds on November 4th, DirecTV customers will be able to catch eight feeds of coverage on a single channel alongside a real-time election blog that will "track the announcements and analysis on each channel as votes are counted, exit polling data is evaluated and electoral count projections roll in." The Election Mix Channel will be seen on slots 102 and 352 (for SD and HD, respectively) and will feature feeds from the four broadcast networks, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and alternating feeds of Comedy Central (when it's doing live election coverage) and BBC America. Users will be able to hover over any of the eight blocks to select audio from each, and you can catch the mayhem beginning at 7:00PM ET on that fateful Tuesday.

[Thanks, Bryan]

60 Minutes pulls out the HDTV cams for Obama & McCain Sunday

by Richard Lawler posted Sep 17th 2008 at 7:12PM

Best reason to watch 60 Minutes on CBS Sunday: It's the 40th anniversary, it features presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, or that it's the first in glorious high definition? Multichannel audio is promised (has the tick-tock been remastered?) to go along with the crisp picture, but all that really matters is that September 21, 7 p.m. -- you know where we (and our HDTVs) will be.

Republican National Convention features LED video wall, HDTVs by LG

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 30th 2008 at 4:01PM


One of the biggest issues of the 2008 Presidential campaign will certainly be how much high definition does your candidate have? Next week in Minnesota the Republican National Convention will feature HDTVs from LG throughout the Xcel Energy Center, but the highlight will certainly be the 51- x 30-foot Hibino Chroma LED video wall behind the podium area. Stacked against an array of Panasonic projectors and plasmas from the DNC's show in Denver, we expect single issue (resolution, compression, plasma vs. LCD) voters will have a lot of thinking to do over the next few months.

Read - A First Look at the 2008 Republican National Convention Podium
Read - 2008 Republican National Convention Names LG Electronics Official HDTV Provider

ABC's World News Tonight and Nightline enter high definition tonight

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 25th 2008 at 2:51PM

ABC's push for HD evening news comes to a head tonight, when World News with Charles Gibson and Nightline both hit your screen in 720p from the Democratic National Convention. Besides covering both conventions in HD -- and there'll be plenty of that in the '08 campaign -- when they return to the studio in September the HD love continues. 20/20, Primetime and World News on the weekend will all be HDTV-ready shortly after. B & C reveals ABC News is deploying the same Sony XDCAMs -- full HD newsgathering is on hold 'til 2009 -- used to bring home high definition Survivor this fall, add in a tropical location and it would likely be hard to tell which one we're watching.

Election '08 coverage to include more HD

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 18th 2008 at 9:33PM

Even though this week's Democratic debate was unfortunately-SD on ABC, we can expect more reasons to pay attention to the potential candidates in the days to come. CNN's Election Express has already deployed an HD news truck to cover the campaign trail, but CBS is close behind. The Eye plans to hit the conventions in HD, but it will take a while to move the newscast beyond upconverted standard definition video. NBC and ABC will also have the conventions in HD, but while NBC says its field equipment is HD ready, ABC doesn't plan to move beyond 4x3 newsgathering until the end of the year. Check out the rest of the details on TV Technology, we can't tell you who to vote for, but we wouldn't make a decision based on anything said in 480i.

CBS gears up for HD election coverage

by Darren Murph posted Oct 12th 2007 at 4:07AM

Seeing our current president in HD just isn't enough for CBS, which is "readying its technical plant in order to broadcast both political conventions in summer 2008 in high-definition." Reportedly, the network is hoping to have its new HD control room ready to roll for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next August and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis the month after. Furthermore, CBS is also looking to beam out the Evening News with Katie Couric in glorious HD, which should become a very real possibility as soon as the aforementioned control room is fully overhauled.




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