A Low-tech Start For Fox High-def

Executives at Fox Television say the broadcast network's fall rollout of digital telecasting will comprise mostly standard-resolution fare initially, with a minority of programming offered in high definition.

Fox has also disclosed that its high-definition format is embraced by execs at ABC but different from what CBS and NBC chiefs say they will employ.

The HDTV future continues to be a muddy mess, it seems.

"Everybody's frustrated because they are not hearing 100% clear stuff," said Fox Television president Larry Jacobson, who added that networks' digital plans will come into focus only in increments.

For the present, Fox is saying:

¥The marketing and technical aspects of offering high-def TV are so big that initially it makes sense to lean primarily on standard digital, which has few challenges.

¥For both standard and high-def digital, Fox favors "progressive" formats over "interlaced" ones.

That second decision takes some explaining. Fox said its high-def programming will feature the 720p engineering standard, not the more conventional 1080i standard.

The former standard features a more consistent viewing image, some argue, because it features "progressive" scanning of images. The latter offers more lines of image content, but there are blank lines between each because of its "interlaced" method of scanning images.

Similarly, Fox supports a progressive format, 480p, for its standard-resolution digital telecasts. The choice is sure to please the computer industry, which can more easily stream TV programming over home PCs if telecast in progressively scanned formats.

Both 720p and 480p have lower line counts than 1080i, and using fewer lines of image resolution for digital programming holds an advantage for broadcasters because their dedicated broadcast spectrum can be used for program "multiplexing" -- offering more than one program in the same amount of bandwidth needed for a single 1080i telecast.

The FCC declined official comment on Fox's early inclination toward standard-resolution digital television. Unofficially, a staffer seemed less inclined to heated rhetoric than when ABC made a similar pronouncement some months back.

"There's going to be some experimenting, (so) it will be interesting to see if consumers are satisfied," said the staffer, who declined to be identified. "After all, true high-definition television will be just a click away."

The reaction reflects an expectation that one or more networks will move more aggressively than Fox in rolling out a high percentage of its programming in high-def.

Fox's plans surfaced in an article in the March 30 issue of Broadcasting & Cable magazine. In that report, Jacobson was quoted as saying Fox plans only to "test some 720p."

But Jacobson said the quote should not be interpreted as meaning that high-def programming might get lost in the shuffle at the network.

"We're ... going to listen to the marketplace," Jacobson said. "The mix between 480 and 720 is still under review."

Jacobson said he expects that most broadcast networks will adopt an incremental approach to rolling out high-definition telecasts.

Andy Setos, exec vp news technology at Fox parent News Corp., said the choice of progressive engineering standards reflects a belief that interlaced scanning -- also the method by which analog images are transmitted -- is an "obsolete technology."

Brooks Boliek in Washington contributed to this report.