HDTV sales drive programming boom

Denver-area buyers beware: You'll likely need pay-TV service

Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

It's beginning to look a lot like a high-definition Christmas.

More than 3.2 million flat-panel HDTVs will be sold in the U.S. this fourth quarter, nearly twice as many as the same period last year, according to Pacific Media Associates.

While HDTVs top holiday wish lists every year, "this year in particular has been huge," said Phil Murray, marketing manager of Denver-based Listen Up Audio/Video.

That's because prices for the technology continue to plummet, falling 8 percent from last year to an average of $1,400, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. At the same time, satellite and cable providers bolstered their lineup of high-definition offerings since the last holiday season, giving viewers far more to watch on their new sets.

"We're hitting a critical mass between the prices and the programming," Murray said.

Douglas County-based Dish Network in March launched high-definition local channels in the Denver market, while larger satellite-TV rival DirecTV added locals in late June. Comcast, Colorado's largest cable provider, already offered locals.

"The local networks are really important - it's what we watch most of the time," said Jim Pearse, senior vice president of merchandising at Thornton-based Ultimate Electronics.

Unlike in other markets, where viewers can pull in free high-definition programming of local networks through a roof or indoor antenna, that's not an option for most Denver-area viewers. Because of an ongoing dispute over a proposed new broadcasting tower for the metro area, only homes with a clear line of sight to the transmission towers downtown can use an antenna for local broadcast feeds.

That means that most viewers who want to see every spangle on Dancing With The Stars or the beads of sweat on Broncos star Champ Bailey's forehead need to subscribe to a pay-TV service.

But not every HDTV buyer realizes they need high-definition programming when they plug in their new set in the living room.

As many as 56 percent of households with high-definition TVs didn't obtain the special equipment - such as set-top boxes from a cable- or satellite-TV provider - that's needed to see high-definition signals, according to a survey released last year by Leichtman Research Group and Scientific-Atlanta.

That can lead to buyer's remorse because analog TV signals can look worse stretched to fill an HDTV screen than they would on a standard definition set.

"Part of the problem is that compared with the hard sell on the hardware side in buying the HDTVs, the customer almost has to know to ask for programming," said Mark Kersey, who runs BuyingHDTV.com and heads the technology consulting company Kersey Strategies.

EchoStar's Dish and rival DirecTV have more of a longstanding retail presence than their cable competition. Dish has partnerships with Costco and Sears, while DirecTV has similar deals with Circuit City, Best Buy and Ultimate Electronics.

Ultimate's Pearse said high-definition programming and installation are some of the first things that the retailer's sales staff will discuss with HDTV shoppers.

"The most important thing in buying an HD television is making sure that it gets hooked up correctly," he said.

HDTV at a glance

• What is HDTV? High-definition television is simply a better picture, sharper, clearer and more defined. (A good Web site for information is http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ hdtv.htm.)

• Why should I consider HDTV now? If you're happy with your current television(s), it doesn't hurt to wait. The congressional mandate for all stations to be broadcast in HD won't take effect until 2009. But prices for HDTVs are falling rapidly, and the picture difference is striking.

• What do I need to get high-definition programming? Having an HDTV doesn't automatically mean you're watching high-def programs. You also need an HD source - an HD antenna for over-the-air (if you're not a cable or satellite subscriber) or access to HD programming from your cable or satellite provider.