The Advent of HD - from 1998

[Tom Bombadil]

http://www.businessweek.com/1998/43/b3601009.htm

This is a great article from 1998. D* is supposedly about to implement HD. They may be making money from HD in "three or four years." E* is saying that they will be driven to 720p as the standard format.

I like how D* projected that two HD channels would be sufficient for a couple of years. This seems in line with their present offerings, where adding just a few more HD channels was good enough for 7-8 years.

 

[riffjim4069]

Good read...interesting to see what has and hasn't happened...

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I'm disappointed in what hasn't happened. I thought there would be more HD channels by 2006. Back in 2001 HD seemed to be gaining a lot of momentum.

My perception of what derailed it, to some degree, is again the lack of emphasis on quality from the public. Most HDTV sets were purchased to watch 480i DVDs. Surveys showed that a large number of consumers thought line-doubled DVDs were HD. Less than one-fourth of the HD sets purchased in the first five years even bothered to connect to a HD channel provider. Therefore with no strong demand for HD channels, there was slower than anticipated growth.