TORONTO – "We want to be the driver of HD," TSN president Phil King told www.cartt.ca Monday afternoon after the sports network announced today it will offer its flagship news and information show, SportsCentre, in high definition beginning in September.
And since "news is very habit-forming," says King, TSN wants to make sure it holds on to those early-adopting HDTV sports consumers.
The switch will happen Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006, beginning with the delivery of its entire studio portion in HD as well as the rollout of select reports and highlights from the field.
Over time, the entire SportsCentre production will hit its target of 100% HD. The announcement “means TSN becomes the first Canadian broadcaster to commit to the delivery of its daily news program – sports or non-sports – in high definition,” adds the release.
The tipping point to be able to do this, added King, was when TSN began getting more than half of its game highlights in HD. All NFL games are in HD, for example, as are a large number of NBA, NCAA, and NHL games and all NASCAR races. "There’s enough now to make a go with (HD news)," added King.
With SportsCentre HD in September, TSN says that nearly half of its broadcast schedule will then be presented in high definition on TSN HD. So far in 2006, TSN has confirmed HD properties including the NHL, NFL, NBA, CFL, IIHF World Junior Championship, Blue Jays baseball, Golf, NASCAR, U.S. College Football, poker and others.
“TSN is committed to providing the best and most expansive HD sports broadcast schedule in Canada and so, the natural next step was the transformation of SportsCentre to HD,” said King. “It’s a benchmark announcement that represents a significant reinvestment in our news operation and marks a new frontier for sports coverage in Canada.”
Between now and September 5th, SportsCentre will overhaul its newsroom operations to employ state-of the-art HD equipment, including upgrades to its studio and control room. All studio cameras will shoot in HD and an HD server will record and edit available HD events for highlights from around North America. As well, SportsCentre will deploy HD cameras in the field to shoot features and reports. Included in the relaunch of SportsCentre HD will be a new HD animation package, as well as new set elements within the SportsCentre working newsroom.
"It’s a multi-million-dollar investment to make this switchover," said King.
With SportsCentre’s evening, late, overnight and morning loop broadcasts, HD viewers will be guaranteed at least nine hours of SportsCentre HD coverage each weekday, with an additional 15 hours on weekends.
King couldn’t say when all of SportsCentre’s content – or all of TSN’s for that matter – would be in high definition, but added "by the end of the calendar year, TSN will average 50% HD content over a 24 hour day."
