Ball Club Drives an HDTV Bandwagon

[Gregg Lengling]

Ball Club Drives an HDTV Bandwagon
By KEN BELSON

Published: July 6, 2004


AN DIEGO - Even as baseball fans filled ballparks over the July 4th weekend, a growing number were watching the games on high-definition televisions.

After years of politics, promises and false starts, high-definition television with its bigger, superior pictures and enhanced audio is finally starting to take off. Prices of high-definition sets are falling and networks like HBO and ESPN are adding hundreds of hours of high-definition programming. Most important, they are increasing the number of sports events broadcast in that format.

 
Sports programs are shown to particular advantage on high-definition televisons because the higher aspect ratio allows for wider pictures that can, for example, show first and third base simultaneously. The surround-sound audio can amplify the crack of the bat or a ball hitting a mitt.

With high definition, "virtually every sport becomes more like being at the stadium than with old style television," said Gary Merson, editor of The HDTV Insider Newsletter.

But as good as the pictures and audio are, cable providers, broadcasters and television makers have struggled to convince consumers that the service is worth higher monthly cable fees and the high cost of the sets. Cox Communications and Sony are hoping to make their case to consumers by teaming up with the San Diego Padres to promote high-definition television to a specific audience.

For years, cable providers have worked with manufacturers to cross-market their products. Comcast, Cablevision and other cable companies have also latched onto sports to promote their high-definition programming. Comcast, for instance, broadcasts about 150 sports events in high definition for viewers in the Philadelphia area, including the games of the 76ers and Flyers, two teams the company owns.

But the three-way deal in San Diego demonstrates a greater convergence of the broadcast, electronics and entertainment industries, one that could become a model for others.

"You've got all three points on the triangle: the distributors of the content, the display of the content and the providers of the content," said Woody Thompson, senior vice president at Octagon, the sports marketing arm of the Interpublic Group.

As part of the deal, consumers who buy Sony high-definition sets receive 12 months of free high-definition programming from Cox, San Diego's main cable provider, a $72 savings. The Padres bought 250 Sony high-definition sets, some of them models that can cost more than $10,000, to install in their stadium, Petco Park, to give fans a taste of HDTV.

Cox also bought dozens of Sony sets to give away in raffles during Padres games and to place in restaurants near the stadium. Sony, in turn, has placed ads on Cox's Channel 4, which broadcasts 104 Padres games in high definition, the most for a single team in the country.

The cable and entertainment industries are watching the Cox-Sony-Padres deal closely.

Cox, which spent $4 million to upgrade a production truck to broadcast in high definition, says the ratings for its Padres games are rising, for both home and away games. The truck accompanies the Padres when they play in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix and Denver.

Subscriptions for Cox's high-definition service, which costs $6 extra a month, have tripled since the season started in April.

Cable companies have spent about $85 billion since 1996 to upgrade networks to deliver high-definition programs and other digital services, and they are eager to sign up new subscribers to recoup those investments.

Satellite providers made early inroads into the high-definition market, but cable is catching up. The number of cable customers subscribing to high-definition services nationwide has doubled in the last half-year, to 1.7 million, according to Bruce Leichtman of the Leichtman Research Company.

"High definition is happening and happening now," he said, adding that 10 million cable and satellite subscribers may have a high-definition service by the end of 2005.

Getting people hooked on high-definition programs is crucial because it brings in fees - digital cable customers pay $2 to $6 more a month for a high-definition set-top box - and also helps prevent consumers from switching to a satellite service.

In its battle with satellite companies, cable's main selling point is that viewers receive not only national networks like ABC and NBC in high definition, but also local programs, particularly sports, that satellite companies do not broadcast.

That is a big reason Cox is promoting high-definition broadcasts of the Padres, the only Major League Baseball team in San Diego. San Diego is also one of the most wired cities in the nation, which makes its population perhaps more receptive to the benefits of high definition.

 Sony officials say their high-definition sets are selling particularly well in San Diego, though they would not provide precise figures. For their part, the Padres say the high-definition broadcasts of their games have highlighted their new ballpark and helped draw record numbers of fans.

Lydia Ochoa is one of Cox's new high-definition subscribers. Mrs. Ochoa and her husband, Sergio, both die-hard Padres fans, used their tax return this spring to buy a new 51-inch Sony rear-projection television because they heard Cox would be showing Padres games in high definition.

The massive set now takes up an entire wall in the living room of the Ochoas' home in Chula Vista, a suburb of San Diego. The Ochoas and their 7-year old son, Eric, watch plenty of movies on their new set, but baseball is what they like most.

"You can even see people getting popcorn in the stands," said Mrs. Ochoa said, sitting on her couch with Eric nestled nearby. "It's like you're there."

The family did not realize how good the set was until they went to a game at PetcoPark. That was when Mr. Ochoa blurted out, "We could be home watching in high definition."

But the Padres are not worried that better quality broadcasts will cause a dip in attendance. In fact, the team has placed 800 Sony televisions through the park, including 250 high-definition sets, to get fans hooked on the service. In some spots, standard and high-definition sets are side-by-side so fans can see the difference.

The hope is that if high-definition TV gets fans to watch more Padres games, the value of the team's brand will rise.

"I'm not going to be happy until all of our games are broadcast in h-d," said the Padres owner, John Moores, standing in the Padres' locker room, where four plasma display screens hang in the center of the room.

While the Padres deal with Cox and Sony is unusual in its scope, many other companies are using sports to promote high-definition programming. MSG Networks broadcasts 250 games a year in high definition, including home games of the Knicks, Rangers, Mets and Devils. The company also has a deal with Panasonic, which has installed about 80 high-definition televisions in Madison Square Garden.

Consumers who buy certain kinds of Panasonic HD televisions this summer will receive two $50 coupons that they can send to one of 10 cable providers to offset the cost of their digital and high-definition subscriptions.

Cox's giveaway of some high-definition sets is one of its more popular promotions. At a recent Padres game at Petco Park, Cox representatives presented Howard and Crystal Lucas with a Sony 30-inch high-definition Trinitron Wega television that costs $2,000. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas, who already have a 52-inch high-definition television, plan to put the new set in their bedroom.