Marquee brands such as TNT jumping into the hi-def pool this year will certainly help make HD content a must-have, not just a must-see. Because of the expense, the difficulty of getting it hooked up and the limited availability of product, a lot of people havent been willing to spend the money, comments Andy Heller, president of domestic distribution for TBS Inc. But were seeing that change, and I believe that this will be the year that hi-def truly takes hold as a consumer proposition as opposed to a consumer electronics proposition.
As will be in evidence at NATPEs annual confab taking place this week, a slew of other new entrants into hi-def programming are on the horizon. The Outdoor Channel, for one, is hitting the show to troll for HD titles to shore up its 24/7 HD network launching early next year, a move (along with Outdoor Life Networks foray into HD this summer) that should help lure the millions of outdoors buffs to hi-def.