Why isn ABC sports airing the British Open in high definition (HD)?
Ahhh, golf in high definition. It’s one of the best things in the world. Like Monday night football or a beautiful, grassy Wimbledon final, the rolling fairways on a stretched out, high def television is exactly what being a lazy sports fan is all about. That being said, when the British kicks off July 16 at one of the more aesthetically pleasing links golf courses in the world, break out those bunny ears, because a high definition hook-up will be as helpful as owning a time machine. TNT/ABC has announced they will not be broadcasting one of the four majors in high definition. Via HDSportsguide.com … People complain about links golf looking burned out and “brown” once the British kicks off, but Turnberry is different. It has the light tower and the Ailsa Craig and it rolls along the west coast unlike any course you’d see in Scotland. Some of the holes are breathtaking, so it’s disappointing we won’t get to see it in high definitio
BBC, R&A commit to HD coverage for 2010 By Glen Dickson — Broadcasting & Cable, 7/15/2009 6:24:28 PM EDT 2009 should be the last year that golf fans have to make do with upconverted standard-definition coverage of the British Open on their high-definition TV sets, according to executives at ABC Sports/ESPN. The legendary tournament, one of professional golf’s four major championships, is one of the few big-time sporting events to not yet adopt HD production. So cable network TNT, which is airing the first two rounds from the Ailsa Course at Turnberry, Scotland this Thursday and Friday, as well as early-morning coverage Saturday and Sunday, and ABC, which will broadcast the final two rounds, will once again upconvert the SD pictures for U.S. hi-def audiences. But that will change for the 2010 Open at St. Andrews, when live coverage of the tournament’s four rounds will be telecast on cable network ESPN, with broadcast network and corporate sibling ABC airing a highlights show on Saturda
It’s not TNT’s fault that it isn’t airing the British Open in high-definition. The network (and weekend broadcaster, ABC) take their feed from the BBC, which has refused to invest in HD cameras for the British. A standard definition picture is offered, which TNT upconverts to provide a marginal picture, but nothing like the stunning HD images you normally see in golf tournaments. (This upconverting process is standard on older programming that airs on HD channels, like reruns of “Seinfeld” or early episodes of “Law and Order”.) Sources: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Going-out-on-the-bottom-TNT-disappoints-in-fina?
