What is This-TV?
This-TV went on the air in the Salt Lake market - spanning the entire state of Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming - on April 8, 2009, as digital 2.2 and on Comcast Cable channel 111.
Salt Lake's This-TV will also be the only place to catch 22 non-national broadcasts of RSL's Major League Soccer games, including nine games from the team's state-of-the-art Rio Tinto Stadium home (beginning this Saturday, April 11, against D.C. United), as well as the 14 remaining regular-season road games in 2009. This-TV will air Real Salt Lake action in a widescreen 16x9 standard definition format utilizing a CBS network graphics package, making KUTV 2.2 the most advanced regional entertainment and educational tool for the emerging sport of soccer in the United States.
When RSL is not on the air, This-TV is the place for movies, with more than 4,000 films and over 10,000 episodes of TV programming. At the heart of This-TV's programming are blockbuster and Academy Award-winning movies from the most prestigious Hollywood film libraries in the entertainment industry, including MGM, United Artists, Orion Pictures, Polygram, Cannon and Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Where can I find it?
You will need a digitally-equipped TV or a traditional TV with a converter box, or to be a Comcast cable subscriber to view This TV. This TV will be available on Comcast Channel 111 and digital over the air on Channel 2.2. This TV is not available on Dish Network or DirecTV; satellite viewers will have to "bypass" their receivers and have their television tune in to 2.2 with a digital antenna or converter box, per FCC guidelines that go into effect no later than June 12, 2009. Satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network have not yet allocated the channel bandwidth for the relatively sudden explosion of digital "over-the-air" channels; when the FCC-imposed deadline of June 12 comes, the satellite providers should have a better idea of their plans for these signals. However, they may decide that because the digital signals are already available via FREE, over-the-air means, that there is no reason to juggle their lineup or dedicate channel capacity to these signals ... bottom line: stay tuned!
What if it doesn't show up?
If you are unable to see the station through your HD TV or converter box, you will need to access the menu on your TV and scan for all channels. The "Quick Start Guide" at www.DTVanswers.com has instructions on how to install a TV converter box.
Why isn't everything produced in HD?
Regarding the HD (high-definition) vs. SD (standard-definition) issue, there are many factors, including a) cost, b) production truck availability and c) transmission. The cost of producing an HD 2.5-hour show is roughly $15-20,000 more than an SD show - multiply that by 24 games and you are looking at nearly a half-million dollars! (for the two games that are the main KUTV 2 channel, a.k.a. 2.1, those games are produced in true HD) ...
The live remote television production industry is currently in a state of transition between SD and HD; the old SD trucks are in higher demand, primarily because no new SD trucks are being built, thereby driving up cost; however, the HD trucks are quite expensive, and the availability of those has slowed down due to the economy, but because there are only so many in the marketplace, demand is driving their cost up as well! ... (FYI - all broadcast cameras - usually 7 to 10 - come as part of the truck complement, and are completely separate from the 3 or 4 in-house stadium cameras).
Both RSL and KUTV hope to have the ability to produce more games, more economically, in HD in 2010 and beyond, eventually getting to an all-HD lineup; RSL and KUTV have taken the intermediate step of producing games in full widescreen 16:9 SD, which gives the camera angles and live area we are used to seeing in HD - while this is not "true" HD, the digital signal has a much higher quality than we have been used to seeing in a 4:3 analog signal.
Finally, we come to the transmission issues surrounding HD vs. SD; first, all satellite and fiber-optic transmission cables and their transmitting and receiving systems are in the process of being upgraded to handle the data load for HD. For distribution to DirecTV, Dish Network and iNDemand, the trio of carriers of the league's "Direct Kick" subscription package, games shot in HD have to be "downconverted" to SD in order for those not watching on HDTV to still be able to view the game - the multiplicity of the transmission paths, etc., adds on layers and layers of costs for all parties concerned.
We hope this helps, and feel free to contact RSL's Director of Public Affairs & Broadcasting, Trey Fitz-Gerald, at tfitz@RealSaltLake.com, with any questions or comments. You can also contact KUTV2, either with questions or to express your gratitude for their long-term commitment to soccer in Utah, please go to www.kutv.com/content/aboutus/contactus/KUTVGeneralComments.aspx.
Useful Links About DTV
www.dtv.gov - The Federal Communications Commission's Web site featuring DTV-related consumer resources, outreach tools, publications, news and more.
www.DTVTransition.org - The DTV Transition Coalition Web site where you can take an online quiz to find out if you are ready for the DTV transition or access an extensive list of online DTV resources.
www.digitaltips.org - Resources provided by the Consumer Electronics Association
