Wing flaps over airing in HD

[Gregg Lengling]

Paige Albiniak
Broadcasting & Cable
11/18/2002 10:51:00 AM
   The government is trying to encourage the United States' switch to digital TV and high-definition TV, but the White House has yet to make the move itself -- the Bartlett White House, that is.

The West Wing, like NBC's ER, is shot in HDTV. Unlike ER, however, its wide-screen version is only for foreign export.

While Warner Bros.' ER airs in HDTV in the United States, West Wing does not. Why not?

Warner Bros. wants NBC to pay extra for the U.S. HDTV rights to West Wing as part of ongoing renegotiations for the show.

So far, NBC isn't biting.