AT&T Expands TV Service
AT&T's “U-verse” IPTV service, operating in San Antonio, is offering an expanded program lineup, including HDTV channels and new interactive features. AT&T is supplying 25 hi-def channels, and new HD customers receive two months of free HD programming.
AT&T is also allowing subscribers to program their digital video recorders with their AT&T Yahoo! Internet account and has rolled out DVR-equipped set-tops from Motorola that allow subscribers to record up to four programs at once. The telco giant has also expanded its program lineup to more than 300 channels.
Louisiana Says YES to HD
YES Productions, a subsidiary of public broadcaster WYES in New Orleans, has replaced a production truck destroyed during Hurricane Katrina with a 53-foot “expando” trailer.
The new rig is outfitted with high-definition production gear, including a Grass Valley Kalypso HD production switcher and a server-based EVS Live Replay System. The truck also carries nine Ikegami HDK-79 HDTV portable cameras with a wide assortment of Fujinon field and ENG/EFP HDTV lenses.
These include two XA101x8.9ESM Super Telephoto field lenses; four XA87x9.3ESM telephoto lenses; three HA22x7.3ERM/ERD high-performance ENG lenses; and one HA13x4.5ERM/ERD Super Wide Angle lens.
YES provides production support for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets, Louisiana State University football games, and more than 100 other college and high school sports events broadcast by regional cable network Cox Sports.
Gray Compresses With Harmonic
Gray Television has begun using compression gear from Harmonic Inc. to fit two high-definition and one standard stream in a single digital channel. According to Harmonic, station KXII in Sherman, Texas, has become the first ATSC broadcaster to deploy such a service in the 19.4-megabit-per-second bandwidth offered by a 6-megahertz DTV channel.
It is using Harmonic's DiviCom MV 500 MPEG-2 HD encoders, MV 100 MPEG-2 SD encoders, DiviTrack statistical multiplexing and NMX Digital Service Manager system to simultaneously broadcast CBS programming in 1080-line interlace HD (1080i), Fox in 720-line progressive HD (720p) and MyNetwork TV in 480i SD.—G.D.
