L.A.'s KTLA-WB announced plans to broadcast Dodgers
games in HDTV when the team faces the Mets on September 10
and 11, according to Robin Berger of ELECTRONIC MEDIA, who
writes that the move "could lead to more dual broadcasts of
Dodger games in analog and HDTV thereafter." KTLA is also
currently "in discussion" with Japan's NHK to air the two
HDTV Mets-Dodgers games in Japan. KTLA Dir of Sports &
Special Events Joe Quasarano: "NHK's very big in HD --
they've aired a lot of HD programming for years in Japan"
(ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 8/16 issue). Meanwhile, in Indianapolis,
WTHR-NBC is airing more than 25 hours of HDTV coverage of
the RCA Championships on IN's first digital channel
(ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 8/18). Consumer Electronics Manufacturers
Association says that through May, "less than" 35,000 HDTV
sets have been sold since they came out last year. Prices
for the sets ranged from $1,000-14,000, compared to the
$100-699 that Forrester Research says "most U.S. households
shelled out" for analog TVs (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 8/16 issue).
A NEW TOY: DAILY VARIETY's Marc Graser reports that
Time Warner, Disney, NBC, Liberty Media, Tribune, Showtime
Networks and "other TV companies" are investing $57M in
ReplayTV, the manufacturer of the digital video recorder
that will be released to the public next month. The recorder
allows viewers to preset the machine to "automatically
record programming based on titles, themes or actors."
TiVo, which is similar to ReplayTV, has also received some
recent financing from AOL (DAILY VARIETY, 8/19). In L.A.,
Larry Stewart examined the difference between TiVo and
ReplayTV. Fox Sports Dir Bob Levy, who has had ReplayTV on
his home TV since November, said that he believes Replay
offers "better quality and is more user friendly than TiVo."
Levy: "I have heard TiVo can have a mind of its own. Replay
hasn't failed me at all" (L.A. TIMES, 8/18).
