HDTV IS ‘HERE AND HERE TO STAY’—CBS'S FLAHERTY
HDTV has crossed “final barrier” and “is here and here to stay,” CBS Senior Vp Joseph Flaherty told Home Entertainment 2002 show in N.Y.C. Thurs. In keynote speech to reporters, Flaherty described HDTV as latest “must-have” TV technology, and any CE businessperson who believes “that the public won’t ever want widescreen digital HDTV is taking a ‘bet-the-business’ gamble.”
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As “fantastic” as HDTV is today, there’s room for “further development and improvement,” Flaherty said. He said viewing HDTV on early displays was reminiscent of Mark Twain observation that “Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” Flaherty said: “I say HDTV is better than it looks… The HDTV standard has been beyond the quality of present displays, but not beyond the scope of the rapid display development under way. Displays are getting better and cheaper, not poorer and more expensive.”
Contrary to perception, Flaherty said, HDTV programming is “readily available in quantity.” He said over 450 HDTV programs are available to home viewers weekly on network and local broadcast and cable services. Moreover, he said “near- term promise” of high-definition DVD “will add a new dimension to HD program availability.” He spoke only briefly on subject of HDTV cable carriage, saying that “except for a few forward-thinking cable systems, cable is behind schedule and sneaking snail-like into the 21st century.”
As for debate about where to relocate N.Y.C. transmission tower lost in World Trade Center attacks, Flaherty, who is member of committee studying options, told us in interview that “we have to put it somewhere, and soon.” He said time is critical in making informed decision because of precariousness of backup facilities put in place after Sept. 11 disaster and 2-year time frame needed to finish construction of freestanding tower. Given FCC mandate to locate tower within 3.2-mile radius of World Trade Center, Flaherty told us he supports proposal to build it on south end of Governors Island in N.Y. harbor, pending completion of feasibility and technical studies now being conducted. He dismissed as “non-reality” arguments that Governors Island site would cause massive upheaval in signal reception or DTV station allocations along Eastern seaboard.