Article: Fox won't air Cowboys games in HD

Boyzmamacita

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This is from an Abilene publication, but I think it applies nationwide.

Fox won't air Cowboys games in HD

Local affiliate to air Dallas 10 times this season

Don't be too quick to blame Tony Romo if his passes look crisp and sharp one game but not the next.

It just might be the fault of the network that's broadcasting the Dallas Cowboys game that day. Fox will carry 10 of the Cowboys' 16 regular season games -- and it won't be in high definition, with its sharp, crisp, high-resolution image.

Five of the other six games will be televised by CBS, NBC or ESPN, which broadcast locally in HD.

One game, on Dec. 20, will be televised by the NFL Network, which is available only to DirecTV satellite subscribers. Some NFL Network games are broadcast in HD, but others are not.

Local sports fans had a breath of hope that Fox would be broadcasting in high definition by the beginning of the football season. In January, Fox officials said HD broadcasts might be available locally by midyear -- but this is not to be.

In fact, DuJuan McCoy, president and chief executive officer of Bayou City Broadcasting, which owns the local Fox affiliate, said it might be February before high definition programming comes to this area.
"I'm giving you the worst-case scenario," McCoy said, adding that HD programming might arrive sooner.

Earlier this year, Bayou City Broadcasting bought KIDY-TV/Fox 6 San Angelo and KXVA-TV/Fox 15 Abilene from Sage Broadcasting.

One thing is for certain -- Fox will be broadcasting locally in HD by Feb. 17. That's the date mandated by federal law for all television stations to cease broadcasting in the older analog format, which is used by the local Fox affiliate. All stations are required to convert to digital broadcasts by Feb. 17.

Digital doesn't necessarily mean "high definition," but Fox officials said earlier this year that HD broadcasting would come when the local affiliates switched to digital.

The fact that all stations will be required to switch to digital by Feb. 17 is causing the delay in bringing HD programming to this area, McCoy said. A limited number of businesses sell and install the necessary equipment, he said, meaning stations have to wait their turn. The limited number causes another problem, too.

"It's pretty costly," McCoy said.

Local football fans got a taste of the future when Fox transmitted the 2008 Super Bowl locally in high definition via Suddenlink cable. The HD programming was for one day only.

This year Fox will not televise the Super Bowl, but it will broadcast the collegiate national championship game Jan. 8. McCoy said Fox might broadcast that one game in HD, like it did for this year's Super Bowl.

Fox also will broadcast the NFL playoff games that Cowboys fans will be interested in. The National Football League consists of two conferences -- National and American. Dallas plays in the national conference, or NFC.

Fox will broadcast the NFC playoff games. If the Cowboys make the playoffs, local fans will just have to suffer through a standard broadcast.

Fox HD will be not be available by any means -- not via satellite or cable or even by wrapping a coat hanger around an antennae. The only way the programming would be available locally in HD is if Fox makes an exception like it did for this year's Super Bowl.

Otherwise, sports fans, you're out of luck.

"If we're not broadcasting it, you can't get it," McCoy said.
 

speedkilz88

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Thats just a problem in Abilene but I'm sure there are still some other cities that also haven't moved over to HDTV broadcast yet. Everyone that has already been getting local OTA HDTV should still be getting it.
 

YosemiteSam

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Boyzmamacita;2203749 said:
"If we're not broadcasting it, you can't get it," McCoy said.

Nothing like lagging behind to delay the inevitable costs. I'm mean as long as you have a monopoly, who cares what the customers want. They will get what we give them and like it.
 

speedkilz88

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I'm originally from that area and part of the problem is that they didn't get a fox station(I'm not sure they have one yet either), what they did was get the broadcast of San Angelo and sent it out. The analog signal was very weak and couldn't even get out to the other towns in the area. So if you didn't have cable you were out of luck as far as fox programs. The FCC deadline is the only thing that was going to get them to catch up with the times.

(Bryan/College Station's KYLE28 also does the same thing by using Waco's KWKT44 feed for their local broadcast)
 

theebs

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speedkilz88;2203753 said:
Thats just a problem in Abilene but I'm sure there are still some other cities that also haven't moved over to HDTV broadcast yet. Everyone that has already been getting local OTA HDTV should still be getting it.

yeah that is a local isssue.

Dallas always plays in HD. I think there is only 1 or 2 games that are not in HD each week between all the networks. I remember last year one of my friends was complaining because buffalo was not done in HD like 4 times and cincy is the other team it kept happening to.

have no fear though, All cowboys games will be in HD.
 

dest

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I'm from San Angelo, and this is the exact reason I "moved" my Dish sub to San Antonio. All HD for me baby.
 

thekavorka

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it's not like the Abiline Fox affiliate broadcasts everything else in HD and just not the Cowboys games. I guess they don't broadcast anything in HD. Probably too costly for them currently.
 

FCBarca

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Just another reason to LOVE Fox, eh?...Cost saving measures for a network and league that is making billions :rolleyes:
 

Meat-O-Rama

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FCBarca;2203846 said:
Just another reason to LOVE Fox, eh?...Cost saving measures for a network and league that is making billions :rolleyes:

As previously stated this relates to the owner of a local affiliate. It has more to do with that than the Fox Broadcasting Network. Fox will be in HD for most of the rest of the country, and has been for some time.
 

ABQCOWBOY

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LOL.....


When I was a boy, I remember listening to Cowboy Games on a radio/sterio. Actually, it was one of those consoles that had a TV in the center, a radio on one side and a record player on the other side. You would flip the top up and either put on records or turn on the radio. No BS, they weighed about a thousand pounds. :laugh2:

In those days, you had to sit by the radio and constintly adjust the tuning in order to get good signal. Of course, I also had my own transister radio but when the family was listening to the game, this is how we did it.

Seems funny now that we talk of HD and how all the games will not be availble in HD programing.

:)
 

chargrove

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I grew up in Abilene and lived there again in the mid to late 90s. It is not on the cutting edge, to say the least. My advice: move.
 

Pottsville Maroons

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Chocolate Lab;2203791 said:
Wow, I knew Abilene sucked, but this takes the cake. :p:

chargrove;2203867 said:
I grew up in Abilene and lived there again in the mid to late 90s. It is not on the cutting edge, to say the least. My advice: move.

What? I thought that, since they finally have a Best Buy, Old Navy and Red Robin, that FOX HAD to get their TV signals up to date, as well. ;)

I grew up there, too, (from '71 to 2000, off and on) and hated it at the time. Now that I live in OKC, Abilene doesn't seem so bad. lol
 

poke

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ABQCOWBOY;2203864 said:
LOL.....


When I was a boy, I remember listening to Cowboy Games on a radio/sterio. Actually, it was one of those consoles that had a TV in the center, a radio on one side and a record player on the other side. You would flip the top up and either put on records or turn on the radio. No BS, they weighed about a thousand pounds. :laugh2:

In those days, you had to sit by the radio and constintly adjust the tuning in order to get good signal. Of course, I also had my own transister radio but when the family was listening to the game, this is how we did it.

Seems funny now that we talk of HD and how all the games will not be availble in HD programing.

:)

thats why i dont worry what kind of broadcast it is....i too listened to games, watched them in black & white, occasionaly drove 60 miles from home to be able to watch them in a motel room due to blackout rules.
so not being in HD is no concern to me.
 

bobtheflob

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That scared me at first until I saw it was a local thing. I just bought my first HDTV, largely for watching football.
 

ABQCOWBOY

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poke;2203945 said:
thats why i dont worry what kind of broadcast it is....i too listened to games, watched them in black & white, occasionaly drove 60 miles from home to be able to watch them in a motel room due to blackout rules.
so not being in HD is no concern to me.

We are a dwindling club. Poke, you know this right?
 

Shady12

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I live in San Angelo..and NONE of the network affiliates broadcast in HD yet. Fox did have HD for a week or so I think last year just testing it out. Ugh. Had my HD set 5 years, and I'll be ready for a new TV by the time I can get locals in HD.
 

Joe71

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The title of this thread was misleading.:chop:
Please don't do this to us ever again.:spanking: I almost fell out of my seat.:laugh2:
 
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