HD Biggest ‘Reinvention’ in TV History, ESPN’s Burns Says
SAN JOSE -- Trying to get more people to watch and getting them to watch longer are the metrics “that rock our world,” and HD has delivered both, making it the biggest “reinvention” in TV history, Bryan Burns, ESPN HD vp- strategic business planning & development, told Samsung Semiconductor’s Future Unlimited conference here Wed. Still, infrastructure issues mean ESPN is no closer to moving to 1080p from 720p than it has been, Burns said.
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ESPN has 55 HD trucks roaming the country to beam 762 telecast events this year in HD, Burns said. But there are no 1080p digital switchers, he said. ESPN “made the big leap” to 720p and built its Bristol, Conn., facility to last 15 years with that technology, Burns said. It warily views industry projections that HDTV resolutions 5-10 times better than 1080p are possible by 2011, he said. It also fears the reaction of cable distributors who would be burdened with carrying 3 times the bandwidth of current signals if it commits to 1080p, Burns said. “So what are we supposed to do?” he asked an audience questioner. Of 1080p, Burns said: “I'm not sure the time is right yet. Do we look at it? Yes. Does it bring some consternation? Yes. Are there plans to do it? No.”
ESPN viewers are 117% likelier to own an HDTV set, Burns said. With HD, 71% of sports fans watch at least somewhat more ESPN programming, he said. More importantly, 22% of non-sports fans are likely to watch more, he said: “That’s like mother’s milk to us.” ESPN HD, launched March 31, 2003, is “available to” 87,283,094 cable households, Burns said. ESPN2 HD, launched Jan. 5, 2005, is available to 45,708,591, he said. “I didn’t dream we'd be near” those numbers, he said: That “testifies to the power of content.” The 762 telecast events planned for 2006 compare with only 100 in ESPN HD’s first year, he said. In June 2006 alone, the network did 123 events, he said.
“Avid” sports fans spend an average of 1 hour, 43 minutes a day with ESPN brands on TV and radio, Burns said. Males average 2 hours, 8 minutes a day, he said. Over 97 million consumers are exposed to the ESPN brand in a given week, he said. There’s increased revenue from HDTV customers through ESPN HD and other HD services, Burns said. Before owning an HDTV set, 1/3 of cable subscribers didn’t subscribe to digital cable, he said. But with the HD opportunity comes the task of boosting consumer HD awareness, he said. “The fundamental problem is to get more HD content to more HDTV sets,” he said, noting that big flat screens even in the lobby bar of the Fairmont Hotel here hosting the conference were beaming an ESPN signal in standard definition. It gives the average consumer the false perception that his TV signal at home is better than HDTV, Burns said. For HDTV owners, the problem is more critical, he said. Surveys show that 1/4 think they're watching an HD signal when they're not, he said. That could spell doom in the form of massive product returns, he said.