Rose Parade Being Used to Show the Wonders of HDTV
Hoping a cherished local event will provide the means to showcase high-definition television to more people, KTLA-TV is teaming with Best Buy Stores to display the Tournament of Roses Parade in that new format at five of the retailer’s Southern California locations.
Despite its most celebrated attribute--picture clarity far superior to what TV viewers currently see--high-definition television, or HDTV, remains a hazy concept to consumers. Experts have compared the analog-to-digital switch to shifting from black-and-white TV sets to color in the 1950s, but public awareness still remains low, even with the government’s mandate that all TV stations broadcast in digital by 2006.
For that reason, broadcasters and retailers keep seeking ways to introduce people to the technology, hoping to help spur demand.
KTLA will run ads informing viewers that they can see the Rose Parade in HDTV at Best Buy viewing parties in West Los Angeles, Costa Mesa, Mission Viejo, Woodland Hills and City of Industry. Those stores will open at 8 a.m. so people can view live coverage of the New Year’s Day event.
“The parade [in HDTV] will knock everyone’s socks off, and it’s at a time when everyone can get out and look at it,” said Frank Geraty, KTLA’s director of engineering and broadcast operations.
KTLA is billing its Rose Parade coverage as Los Angeles’ first locally originated live event to be broadcast in high-definition. Several national network programs--including four CBS football games, ABC’s “The Wonderful World of Disney” and an episode of the series “Chicago Hope”--have already been televised in HDTV.
Few people have purchased the digital TV sets needed to receive high-definition pictures. Those sets generally run $7,000 and up--a price expected to drop, though no one is sure yet how far or how fast.
Roughly 40 TV stations across the United States began broadcasting a second digital signal in November. In Los Angeles, the ABC, CBS and NBC stations, as well as KTLA, are among the early adopters of the technology.
Those stations are spending more than $20,000 a month just on the electricity necessary to offer the separate second signal which, at most, a few hundred of the region’s millions of potential TV viewers can see. Those watching the parade at home on a traditional TV will not notice any difference in the broadcast.
“The viewers won’t have a clue that we’re [broadcasting in] high-definition if they’re watching on Channel 5,” Geraty said.
Retailers are using HDTV--the clearest, most pristine version of a digital picture--as the bait to try to hook consumers on digital television. For all the emphasis on high-definition TV, there’s considerable speculation broadcasters will televise only select events such as the Super Bowl or Rose Parade in that format. At other times, the digital signal could be split up into as many as a half-dozen channels, ranging from local news feeds to streams of data, text or home-shopping that would augment existing programs and potentially generate additional revenue for stations.
KTLA has collaborated with other retail chains, such as Circuit City, on promotions designed to highlight HDTV. Broadcasters and retailers admit the process of creating demand from scratch is proceeding slowly.
“This technology, like most in the past, is going to take some time before customers really realize the huge difference between television today and what digital TV is going to do for us,” said Phillip Lee, Best Buy western regional manager.
Although broadcasters are supposed to return their analog spectrum to the government in 2006, there’s skepticism as to how long it will really take for the digital changeover to reach critical mass. As a sign of that uncertainty, KTLA recently erected a new transmitter for its analog signal that should be functional at least until 2020.
Hosted by Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards, KTLA’s Rose Parade coverage has been the perennial ratings champ, usually surpassing the combined audience for all other L.A. stations televising the festivities.
