Posted on 10/26/2006 7:20:25 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
NBC says it's dropping most scripted programs from the network's 8 p.m. time slot next season, replacing them with reality and game shows.
The unscripted fare, which is cheaper to produce, will not be broadcast in High-Definition TV. However, NBC Universal TV CEO Jeff Zucker says that's no big deal.
In an interview with The Washington Post, published today at washingtonpost.com, Zucker was asked if high-def viewers might be less interested in watching non-HD programming.
"It's hard to say if viewers will be less interested in unscripted programming that's not in HD when the rest of the programming is in HD," Zucker tells the newspaper. "I think it's a fair question, but I'm not overly concerned about it at this point."
While the HDTV audience is growing, some network executives have occasionally remarked that it's still too small to have an impact on network schedules and ratings. HDTVs are now in approximately 25 million U.S. homes, but slightly fewer than 10 million actually have the HD tuners necessary to watch high-def signals.
Zucker's NBC decided in 2004 not to air a separate HDTV channel for the Summer Olympics because it said the audience was too small. After being roundly criticized in the press and Internet message boards, NBC reversed that decision for its coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics.
The network's decision to restrict the 8 p.m. hour to unscripted shows, such as Deal or No Deal, is part of an overall effort to cut $750 million from its annual operating budget. Scripted programs, such as dramas and sitcoms, are more expensive to air due to actor salaries and higher production costs.
Producing a show in high-def also requires more expense, perhaps as much as 20 percent, according to some reports.
To NBC's credit, the network recently completed a $3.5 million renovation of The Today Show's studio and production facilities so it could air in HD.
Final note: After Zucker said last week that unscripted programs would not be scheduled in the 8 p.m. time slot, a NBC spokesman clarified his remarks, saying some comedies could still make the cut.
I don't know anything about HDTV. To me a TV is a TV.
I've had HDTV for a year and a half, and I think the difference is worth it. I find it hard to believe that 60% of the people who have bought HDTV's don't have HDTV signals going into them, but it could be true, I guess. What puzzles me is that, even when the show is in HDTV, most of the commercials aren't. Even if few people have HDTV yet, I'd think the commercial producers would want to appeal to customers who spend more than average. I doubt that it would cost much more to film the commercials in HDTV.
This guy is braindead. I routinely turn off television fare because it's not in HD in favor of something that is.
You can't polish a turd anyway.
"To me a TV is a TV."
Me too. But not hubby! Mr. Zucker will definately be losing one viewer in the 8 pm hour.
Or at least take those Wink Martindale Orbitz commercials and turn them into a real game show. It would be like having a 1950s game show all over again with a primary sponsor with their logo everywhere and everyone could be dressed formally and everyone could have to perform a crazy act and...
sorry, I'm describing American Idol.
With few exceptions, commmercial producers like to appeal to idiots. They know that smart people have other ways of making buying deccisions.
As I've written before, my 17" color TV with DirecTV has a good picture and I'm in no hurry to spend a couple of thousand bucks for HDTV.
It appears that I am not alone. $200 with a good picture vs. $2,000 with a slightly better picture... It looks like it's going to be a good long while before I get HD.
On another note, I have the whole Dolby 5.1 thing hooked up, but I hardly ever use it. The whole surround sound thing is annoying. The wide range of volumes guarantees that I'll have the TV way too loud in order to hear the quiet parts. With the straight stereo TV speakers, that isn't a problem.
My house isn't a theater and I would like to be able to carry on a conversation during the commercials. With the 5.1 on and the LOUD commercials, it's just plain irritating.
HD is a better picture but there are two major problems:
1) Cost. Why pay $3,000 for a tv set when you can get a great standard tv for $300?
2) Conversion. All the old standard programming you have on VHS and DVD will not look any better in high def than they did on standard and may even be distorted in the new 16:9 format. I have decades' worth of sporting events in low def 4:3 standard format that are either unplayable or look like crap on a high def tv.
Additionally, a lot of programming isn't worth watching in high def. Are talk shows or news shows any better when you can see people's age spots and warts more clearly?
I'll go to HD kicking and screaming when the government makes me do it but, until then, I'm happy with the quality of what I'm watching now even if it is inferior to the high def picture. Other than for sports programming, I don't even care to see the difference.
Especially sports like baseball, football, golf.
well, he did greenlight Heroes -- so not completely braindead ;-)
"With few exceptions, commmercial producers like to appeal to idiots."
Your comment raises for me the whole question (that has bothered me all my life): does advertizing really work? It doesn't seem to me that I make my buying decisions based on ads, but it also seems to me that it would be crazy for companies to spend all those billions every year for something that doesn't increase their sales. So, even though it seems that I and everybody I know is too smart to be influenced by ads, they must really work nevertheless. Assuming that they do work, I return to my original question, why not film the ads in such a way that relatively bigger spenders will notice it, i.e. in HDTV?
I don't watch TV, so I shouldn't talk, but I think it's too early to buy HDTV. The standards are still being fought over for the DVDs, and the consoles are still very expensive. I'll wait a few years.
If I buy it, it will be to watch movies on. That might make it worth while.
If I had money, the iShares and Volvo commercials would convince me. :)
Hi def big screens run from $1000 to 50,000, but smaller size high def screens can be had for way under $1000, closer to $500-$300. The government is not forcing HD viewing, just digital over the air. There is a difference.
Me too. There's no comparison when watching a game or ANYTHING in HDTV to regular screen broadcasts. I thought congress mandated that all cable channels had to be HD ready by 2007. What's the real story? I'm pissed that I've got a great HD Plasma and I've got only a few shows that broadcast in HD. Why aren't we being accomodated?
If you don't have an HDTV, make a point not to watch one. Once you do, SDTV is just frustrating.
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