Voom Launches HD News Channel

Rainbow DBS’ Voom direct-broadcast satellite service debuted the first-ever full-time high-definition news channel Thursday.

HDNews -- which airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all in HD -- provides news headlines, weather information, sports highlights, business updates and features.

The network’s anchors work from a custom, state-of-the-art set in Woodbury, N.Y., while regional correspondents are based in New York, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami.

Will J. Wright has been named news director of HDNews. Wright had been executive producer for Black Entertainment Television’s BET Nightly News and, prior to that, he served as news director of New York's WWOR-TV for more than nine years.

"HDNews satisfies what was an unmet need for owners of HDTV sets," Rainbow Media Holdings Inc. president of news Pat Dolan said in a prepared statement. "HDN delivers a newscast that is both journalistically sound and showcases the incredible high-definition technology available today."

Cablevision Systems Corp. is the parent company of Rainbow DBS and Rainbow Media.