2005 March Madness on CBS.

[smack]

The great news as posted on AVS forum: :rock:

HARRIS CORPORATION AND CBS SPORTS TEAM UP TO TRIPLE THE NUMBER OF 2005 MARCH MADNESS GAMES TO BE BROADCAST IN HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL REGIONALS, FINAL FOUR AND CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES IN HDTV

24 First Round Games to Air in HD

39 NCAA Tournament Basketball Games to Be Broadcast In HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound

NEW YORK, February 14, 2005 – Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) and CBS Sports announced today an agreement in which Harris will sponsor High Definition Television (HDTV) coverage of the 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship for a second consecutive year, and the number of games broadcast in High Definition (HD) will increase dramatically from 12 to 39.

HD coverage will include 24 High Definition games from four of the eight first round sites March 17-20. The four sites will be split with two being Thursday/Saturday sites, while the other two will be Friday/Sunday locations. In 2004, HD games originated from only one first round site.

This year's Sweet Sixteen will be even sweeter in that all 12 games from the four regional sites in Chicago, Albuquerque, Austin and Syracuse will air in HD. In 2004, only one regional site broadcast HD games.

And for the sixth consecutive year, CBS Sports will air the two national semi-final games and the National Championship Game in High Definition.

The telecasts, which will be presented live by CBS Sports, will be "unified" productions produced in HDTV's highest definition format, 1080i, and downconverted for the CBS Television Network's analog broadcast coverage. This production technique also produces a better quality analog picture. Whether watching in widescreen HD or traditional 4x3 analog, viewers will see the same camera angles, replays and graphics and will hear the same play by play.

Once again, the High Definition NCAA Basketball Tournament games will be broadcast in 5.1 channels of CD quality surround sound. The addition of surround sound audio to the broadcast, coupled with the clarity of 1080 lines of picture resolution, will bring the stadium experience to the viewer's home.

"There is nothing like March Madness, and there is nothing like March Madness in HD and 5.1 surround sound on CBS," said Sean McManus, President, CBS Sports. "Now our friends at Harris are making it possible to take our HD coverage of the tournament to the next level. This is the sixth consecutive year we have broadcast the Final Four in HDTV, re-affirming CBS's leadership in HD Sports broadcasting."

"Working with CBS to enable HDTV broadcasts of the NCAA tournament is part of Harris' commitment to the future of television," said Jeremy Wensinger, president of Harris' Broadcast Communications Division. "One of the best ways we can ensure the wide-scale success of digital television in the United States is by giving the American public the chance to experience HDTV, with its crystal clear pictures and dynamic surround sound, for themselves. High-visibility events like the NCAA tournament are an excellent way to do this."

CBS Sports' coverage of the 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Final Four and Championship games will be broadcast live Saturday, April 2 (6:00-11:00 PM, ET) and Monday, April 4 (9:00-11:30 PM, ET) from St. Louis, Missouri.


About CBS
CBS Television is comprised of the CBS Television Network -- with more than 200 owned and affiliated stations reaching virtually every television home in the United States; the Network's programming arms CBS Entertainment, CBS News and CBS Sports; and CBS Enterprises, a global leader in distribution.

CBS broadcasts, on average, 25 hours per week of High Definition programming, more than any other broadcast network, and more original HD programming per week than any other network, broadcast or cable or satellite. One hundred and eighty-one of CBS's owned and affiliated stations are currently broadcasting in digital, covering approximately 97 percent of the nation.

This fall, CBS began its sixth year of presenting the majority of its primetime lineup in high definition. CBS is also the leader in HD sports broadcasts. For the last five years CBS has aired HD productions of the The Masters® Golf tournament. In 2004, CBS Sports added the PGA Championship to its HD roster. CBS also broadcast the 2001 and 2004 Super Bowls and all of the 2003, 2004, and 2005 AFC Playoffs in HDTV, as well as three regular season NFL games each week of the 2004-2005 season. In addition, CBS has broadcast in HD the US Open Tennis Tournament since 1999, and a weekly SEC college football game, and the SEC Championship starting with the 2001 season.

About Harris Broadcast Communications Division
Harris Broadcast Communications Division is one of four divisions within Harris Corporation, an international communications equipment company focused on providing assured communications™ services for government and commercial customers in more than 150 countries. One of the world's leading suppliers of broadcast technology, Harris Broadcast Communications Division offers a full range of solutions that support the digital delivery, automation and management of audio, video and data. For more information, visit //www.harris.com.

Happy Basketball Season,


Smack

[Mrtanner]

The great news as posted on AVS forum:

This is great news only if channel 58 deviates from past years and shows the games in HD instead of multicasting.

[Joseph S]

This is great news only if channel 58 deviates from past years and shows the games in HD instead of multicasting.

Yeah, what's the point of all the HD games if we don't get to see any until the Final Four??

[gb4fan92]

So its 2 days away from March Madness. What is Channel 58's plans for the games?? - I am especially interested in TWC options.
 Lots of HD I hope !!!!! :rock:  :rock:

[John L]

So its 2 days away from March Madness. What is Channel 58's plans for the games?? - I am especially interested in TWC options.
 Lots of HD I hope !!!!! :rock:  :rock:

On Ch. 58 they said they will be multi-casting the games on 4 of their channels, 58-1, 58-2, 58-3, and 58-4.

-John L.

[Joseph S]

So no HD until the Final 4 again?

[DanDyer]

The plans for WDJT digital broadcasting are as follows:
58-1 (OTA) and 581 on TWC and Charter will carry the main/same programming as our 58 analog, which is the main NCAA game assigned by CBS.  This signal will be SD for the first full weekend.
58-2 (OTA) is WMLW and will be carrying WIAA boys basketball playoffs.
58-3 (OTA) and 582 on TWC and Charter will carry sports programming and NCAA games.
58-4 (OTA) and 583 on TWC and Charter will carry sports programming and NCAA games.
58-5 (OTA) and 584 on TWC and Charter will carry sports programming and NCAA games.
This lineup will be for the first full weekend of NCAA playoffs.  After that, we will return to HD programming for the following weeks of the playoffs.  HD programming will discontinue Wednesday morning and return on Sunday evening.
Of course all plans are subject to change......

[Joseph S]

Why does CBS bother with HD production if most folks don't get it? This is absurd. Not only no HD sports. No HD programming at all once again? Bad move.

Only good thing about CBS lately is we didn't get the crap NTSC garbage tonight on the top of Amazing Race, but of course with Survivor not lead into by HD tomorrow we'll likely be screwed with the inferior NTSC.

HD programming will discontinue Wednesday morning and return on Sunday evening.

No HD CSI this Wed??? The tourney coverage starts on Thursday.

and

Where's the 5.1 advertised on all CBS HD programming? We were told years ago that it was coming after the Grammy awards.

Update:
At least we know the heat will be on them for once but not as much as it could have been. The Milwaukee game will NOT BE IN HD SOLELY BECAUSE OF THIS DECISION as AVS reports the Milwaukee game produced in HD but not the Wis game. There's likely to be heat put on them as well from ignorant Wisconsin fans too who don't know what is and isn't in HD, but think all are in HD. Furthermore, this means there will be no Wisconsin teams playing in HD this year.

[Joseph S]

Yep, they meant this Wed.

So, even though the Tourney coverage hasn't started and won't until tomorrow, we're treated no 5.1 as always and even crappier videofor Survivor and CSI tonight than than the reality trash on WMLW.

FauxCBS - 544x480 3.5Mbps
WMLW - 720x480 4.58Mbps

 :guitar:
CBS 58 is putting out garbage. CBS 58 is putting out garbage. CBS 58 is putting out garbage.  :guitar:


Here's a tip for the folks there at FauxCBS. If you actually had digital for all three of your stations. You could have run all HD games full bandwidth without multicasting, the two SD game feeds, Univision, WMLW, plus a few more SD.

Instead we've got:
No HDTV at ALL
No DD 5.1
No SD Upconverts
No Univision on digital ever
Proof that your company doesn't give a damn about the viewer!

 :mad:

[Matt Heebner]

Ha, I remember being mad about this same thing last year...only we had to wait until the final four for HD programming. Talk about frustrating.

And it aint no treat that they are multicasting on their digital channels. The pixalizaton is horrendous...almost to the point of unwatchable.

Give me a well produced HD game over crappola multi-games any day of the week. I guess will be watching Directv's analog CBS over the OTA digital CBS. :bang:

Matt

[bubbaridesfast]

Personally, I would rather have multi-casting of 4 games at once then only being able to watch the one game on 58-1 in HD. I think the games are much more the point of watching than the HD is.

This way I actually get to watch my Wake Forest game. I was stunned to see that it was being broadcast tonight! I would much rather have my choice of games to watch or, better yet, have the option of flipping back and forth or watching 2 at once on a split-screen.

Sure, I'd rather be able to do that with them all in HD, but we've come a long way baby. This is the first time I have been able to select from 4 different games at once.

Come people lighten up, March Madness is all about the games not the HD!

[syrett4]

Personally, I would rather have multi-casting of 4 games at once then only being able to watch the one game on 58-1 in HD. I think the games are much more the point of watching than the HD is.

This way I actually get to watch my Wake Forest game. I was stunned to see that it was being broadcast tonight! I would much rather have my choice of games to watch or, better yet, have the option of flipping back and forth or watching 2 at once on a split-screen.

Sure, I'd rather be able to do that with them all in HD, but we've come a long way baby. This is the first time I have been able to select from 4 different games at once.

Come people lighten up, March Madness is all about the games not the HD!

I'm with Bubba.  If given the choice, I take the 4 channels and watch HD next weekend.

[smack]

D* has all the games available (that are produced in HD) on their tournament package.   Might have to spring for it.

smack

[Mrtanner]

I'm with Bubba.  If given the choice, I take the 4 channels and watch HD next weekend.

How many people in WDJT's viewing area are watching the UWM game right now?  (I'd guess "lots".)  How many are watching the other three games combined? (I'd guess very few.)  Not showing the local teams in HD when available is inexcusable.

[Joseph S]

If given the choice, I take the 4 channels and watch HD next weekend.

1) Who says next week is HD? Hasn't been HD until the Final Four lately. There will be multiple games at the same time until Elite 8 for sure.

2) You don't really get 4 "channels." You get 4 web cam quality sub channels which do in fact look crap and are pretty much unwatcable.

3) You fail to mention the fact in this that we didn't get HD last night only web cam CBS shows, you won't get HD on Sat, and likely Sunday night. Followed by the same next week and beyond.

4) TWC is sponsoring this? Why the hell don't they show the HD feeds? Oh yeah, CBS still doesn't have that fiber feed to TWC I assume.