Insider Views On HDTV

Last week I spent an interesting and informative day in Washington listening to top executives of the CE, cable and broadcasting industries discuss the HDTV rollout. The event, presented by TWICE and our sister publications, Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and Variety, was called the HDTV Stakeholders Conference.

To get a general idea of what was discussed at this private, invitation-only seminar, take a look at the supplement in this issue that was also distributed at the conference.

You might ask, "What is a 'private, invitation-only seminar?'" Well, "private" means that the event is closed to press coverage, even our own, so all sides can candidly discuss common issues and, maybe, come up with solutions to common problems. While I am bound by my "privacy" pledge, I wouldn't be much of a reporter if I didn't pass along some general impressions of the event.

For the most part, the atmosphere was more collegial than contentious. While there are still differences between each industry involved, gone are the days of real venom between all sides.

The consensus among those top execs who attended our conference was that for all its fits and starts, the HDTV rollout is moving along. Or as Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, told me after one of last week's panels, "Sometimes I think some of us are too close [to the HDTV] rollout, and get a little frustrated. While there's been plenty of potholes along the way, the rollout has moved along just fine."

People generally agree, but depending upon which industry you belong to, one could be more positive or less positive about HDTV's progress. For instance, retailers who attended the conference said in unison that one thing that could push household penetration of HDTV into double digits would be more programming.

Cable and broadcast network execs, and local broadcasters, were surprised and shocked at the accusation. They think that several hours of prime-time HD programming per week, available in an overwhelming majority of top markets, with a smattering of movies and a few major sporting events, should be enough to prime the retail sales pump.

The reality is, while there has been great progress in the past two years, nationwide HD programming is still a mile wide but an inch deep. (For those of you old enough, think color TV programming circa 1962 or so.) HD programming has not yet achieved critical mass to make HDTV "must-see TV."

And if I heard this once, I heard it four times during the conference from cable and broadcast execs: on recent visits to the only CE retailer in the U.S., a chain called "BestBuyCircuitCity" (or was it "CircuitCityBestBuy"?), these execs were shocked and appalled that the salespeople didn't know the first thing about HDTV and were providing inaccurate information to consumers.

While I'm not an apologist for either Best Buy or Circuit City, the story reminded me of the oft-told tale of the blinking "12:00." You know, the inability of consumers to program their VCRs. Like all urban legends, there probably is a germ of truth in the "know-nothing CE salesperson" tale, but all CE retailers, or sales associates, are not the same. Still, while retailers know more about HDTV than ever before, more education should be done.

To become more collegial, and less contentious, more discussions between each industry is needed. To do your part, why not contact your local cable operator or local broadcasters to see what they are doing in HDTV in your area? See if you can collaborate on some co-promotions. Maybe it will get all sides to the promised land — massive household penetration of HDTV.