TVPredictions.com is reporting that neither NBC nor ESPN will be broadcasting Wimbledon in HD. Are we still living in 2001?
NBC and ESPN both said this morning that they will not broadcast the 2007 Wimbledon Tennis Championship in High-Definition.
Adam Freifeld, a spokesman for NBC Sports, told TVPredictions.com today that NBC would not show Wimbledon in HD. He did not elaborate on the reasons behind the decision. […]
It’s as if NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker just doesn’t care. Well, actually, he said as much himself, commenting that “I’m not overly concerned about it at this point [...] if viewers will be less interested in unscripted programming that’s not in HD when the rest of the programming is in HD.”
All the pixels in the world won’t make it an interesting show.
Is NBC using its own equipment, or piggy-backing on the BBC/pool feed? If they’re just picking up the BBC’s signal, that might explain it – even if BBC is shooting in HD, their HD might not survive the transcoding to ATSC to produce a US HD signal of sufficient quality.
Contrast that to the Olympics, where, if memory serves, NBC has the primary responsibility for outfitting the pool cameras, so they deploy all-HD whenever possible.
I had no idea you were a tennis fan! You are a player too I presume? I finally broke down and paid for television so I could get the Tennis Channel this year (yeah, I know, I’ve been living in the dark ages). Wimbledon was not as exciting as I had hoped; I’m hoping the US Open brings a little more drama.
BBC is shooting in HD, their HD might not survive the transcoding to ATSC to produce a US HD signal of sufficient quality.