Haven't you heard? The Seattle SuperSonics are packing up and heading down to Oklahoma -- er, sort of, anyway. Said franchise will have to be renamed once situated in Oklahoma City's Ford Center, but whatever they end up being called, they'll surely be looking sharp on television. Reportedly, said arena will be getting an overhaul that will focus on improving the lighting and "capabilities for broadcasting games in high-definition." Eventually, management is hoping to pour some $100 million into renovating the venue, with the project mentioned here to suck up around $450,000 of that. There's no mention of details just yet (they're still waiting for bids), but fans of the to-be team will certainly want to tune in to see just how impressive the end results are.

[Image courtesy of S2N Blog]

It's tough for Longmont citizens. Sitting just north of Denver and just south of Loveland -- both of which boast upgraded cable systems from Comcast that deliver 29 HD channels -- Longmont's system has yet to be brought up to speed. As it stands, the carrier can only pipe through 14 high-def options, but between now and October, it's dishing out $6 million in upgrades in order to bring Longmont's lineup up to speed. Reportedly, the city will have access to the same number (29, for now) of HD channels as Denver / Loveland, and according to Comcast's northern Colorado general manager, Mike Trueblood, the company "expects to offer more before the end of the year." Now, the wait begins.

Barely a month after we heard that the WWE was pouring $20 million into upgrades for an HD production facility, Philadelphia's KYW-TV just may have 'em one-upped. The all new 120,000-square foot building reportedly houses two full television studios, "each with its own control room to allow for simultaneous broadcasts, a state-of-the-art master control room" and operations center. Both CBS 3 and The CW Philly 57 call the place home, and it's said that the "news operation is completely tapeless and high-definition both in-studio and in the field." Talk about getting with the times.

If you'll recall, Comcast went out of its way to enhance the infrastructure and add a number of new HD channels to much of the Northeast late last year, and now it's finally time for South Florida to experience the same. Reportedly, a "major upgrade" is currently underway on Comcast's South Florida cable system, and we're told that said changes will provide a platform for DOCSIS 3.0 -- set to roll out in 2009 -- which will enable 100Mbps download speeds. Furthermore, subscribers throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe Counties can look forward to a new slate of HD VOD choices to go along with six new HD channels: Food Network HD (414), USA Network HD (420), History Channel HD (422), Discovery Channel HD (424), Animal Planet HD (426) and Sci-Fi HD (427). Best of all, those newcomers are only part of the "phase one" HD expansion plan -- go on, let those imaginations run wild.

In case you've been camped out under the nearest boulder for the past few weeks, WWE has officially transitioned to high-definition, but the change most certainly didn't come cheap. Reportedly, the outfit is finishing up a $20 million conversion of its production facilities at its Stamford, Connecticut headquarters, and in the meanwhile, it's using new HD technology for broadcasts out of a temporary location in the same city. Furthermore, the WWE has constructed all new sets and two new production trucks, and while the company seems quite pleased with the results, the general public hasn't exactly responded. According to David Meltzer, editor and publisher of Wrestling Observer, ratings have yet to jump from the move to HD, but as Michael White, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities puts it, WWE "almost needed this investment to keep [its] core fan base excited." Yeah -- who wants to watch sweat drop from ridiculously built bodies in SD, anyway?

[Image courtesy of BroadcastEngineering]