PBP:Dolphins sharp as ever (at least on TV)

[TK]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/sports_f30cf2b976fe50840015.html

Dolphins sharp as ever (at least on TV)

By Kevin Carlson, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, November 23, 2003

The playoff picture may be a bit blurry, but if you are one of millions of Americans with a digital television and plan to watch tonight's Dolphins-Redskins game, the reception never has been clearer.

ESPN is carrying Sunday Night Football in high definition this season, meaning one of ESPN's three high definition trucks will be parked outside Pro Player Stadium tonight.

It's all part of a lengthy shift at ESPN to total high definition programming. When federal regulations made it necessary for broadcast stations to be able to transmit digitally by 2007, ESPN decided to be at the forefront.

"Next spring, we will move into a building that is the largest HDTV facility in the world," said Bryan Burns, vice president of strategic business planning and development at ESPN. "At that point, we will start producing our news information programming, like SportsCenter, in originally produced high definition."

For now, ESPN has a docket of events in high definition to promote its upstart channel, ESPN HD. Tonight's Dolphins game is one of 145 events -- ranging from women's college basketball to the NHL to the NFL -- in high definition.

"Our launch in this service has had a lot to do with the uptick of interest in HDTV in this country in the last year," Burns said. "That might be a little gutsy to say that, but I think it's quite true."

The convergence to high-definition, digital production appears to benefit everyone, especially viewers, who receive more detail.

"You're going to see five times better quality from what you are seeing before," Burns said.

"I can't wait for the day when some game is decided by something that happens in the area that HD can see. When that happens, it'll be headlines the next morning and people will be running out to buy televisions that afternoon."

The federal government has granted broadcast stations a piece of the digital spectrum free to kick-start the transition. Stations have a period of time to make the necessary changes, and then the government will reclaim the old analog space and redistribute it -- for wireless telephone capabilities, for instance. It's unknown when all programming will be in high definition.

If you don't have a digital television or ESPN HD, you still should see a difference tonight. The feed sent to ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., is sliced and broken down to analog for standard definition telecasts, but many of the attributes of a high definition broadcast stick.