Sound & Vision just ran a coolheaded unmasking on HD cable duct . How can so many good channels be stuck in SD earth — I’m looking at you F / X , Comedy Central and Sci - Fi Channel — while unexampled feeble HD duct like CNN and QVC cut to the front of the crinkle ? And what about those so - forebode HD channels , like TNT and TBS , that half the time ( or more often than that ) play unfold upconverted Law & Order reruns ? dub the situation “ complicated , ” S&V says there is n’t one reply , but eight slimy , thwarting , unjust reason :
1 . Timing : TBS HD launch with MLB playoffs ; CNN HD is cut across politics in a yr when political sympathies is n’t BORING .
2 . Pretty Picture : sport , movies and nature top the list of demanded HD . Apparently Reno 911 is n’t even near the top .
3 . New Content : Converting old stuff cost $ $ $ $ $ , whereas frivol away in HD from the get go is cheaper and cheaper everyday , hence QVC ’s all - HD all - the - time pitch .
4 . Money : You knew this would do up . QVC pays carriers to put their epithelial duct up . Who screw what other pile are going down ?
5 . Visual upgrade : Even if the telecasting itself is n’t HD , some channels like CNBC HD ( seriously ? ) use graphics and stuff in HD .
6 . promise , promise : According to a reference at Comcast , networks who share big ‘ n ’ nebulous HD plan for the hereafter can squeeze by with crap programming at launching . ( Hey Comcast , they also took the Good Book “ Gullible ” out of the lexicon . )
7 . Simulcasting : Apparently it ’s cheaper for a channel to broadcast stuff in HD and South Dakota at the same time , because they save on marketing and can tell everyone to watch out at the same clip , whereas epithelial duct that only broadcast in HD are underpromoted .
8 . Smoke - sate Rooms : All of this come down to batch , handshakes between suits from the postman and suit from the content owners . ( Occasionally , they have to really shake their own hands ! ) Whatever motley of above incentives are offer , a deal ’s a heap . [ Sound & Vision ]
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