W H E R E T H E N E W S
C O M E S F I R S T
PRESS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Brenda Buratti bburatti@kgw.com
Date: December 4, 2007 Phone: 503-226-5130
Fax: 503-226-4575
KGW
Belo station to be first in market to bring high
definition news to viewers
Viewers will be able to receive the most detailed and visually
precise weather forecast in the critical severe weather season with NewsChannel
8’s HD weather. The First Alert Storm
Team will have the advanced tools of Live Doppler 8000 and 3-D radar in HD. The primary remote sky-cam will showcase
NewsChannel 8’s anchors and reporters appear in high definition from the KGW HD Studios and newsroom cameras. The KGW news studio has been redesigned for the HD environment, and custom HD graphics will also be part of the HD news experience.
KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8 will be one of less than 10% of the
stations in the country who have made the significant investment to broadcast local
news in high definition. Competitors broadcasting local news in standard
definition widescreen simply provide a wider picture made from the original
standard definition equipment with no added HDTV detail. NewsChannel 8’s high definition news will
have over five times the sharpness and resolution of any other
In contrast to wide screen, the transition to full high definition requires a substantial financial commitment requiring the replacement of everything from the cameras to the transmitter involving over 500 pieces of additional gear to upgrade to HD technology.
Viewers with high definition TV sets will enjoy the full HD news experience on KGW. Those with digital televisions will see the wide screen presentation and some, but not all, of the increased picture detail. Viewers with analog television sets will benefit from the enhanced weather forecasting but will not see the granular detail digital or high definition sets will offer.
NewsChannel 8 will extend its high definition commitment to
the 10 PM newscast produced for KRCW, NewsChannel 8 @ 10 on
“The success of KGW is built on our history of leadership and innovation with an unwavering dedication to a quality experience for the viewer,” said DJ Wilson, President and General Manager of NewsChannel 8. “We’re very proud and thrilled to be among a very select group of broadcast stations equipped to offer viewers the absolute highest quality technical delivery of a broadcast signal available today through true full power HD.”
KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8 joins its sister station KING Television in Seattle (NBC) which launched full HD in April of this year, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, which launched in high definition in March 2007.
KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8’s HD channel is carried on channel 708 on Comcast. It is also carried by both Dish and DirecTV satellite providers. Over the air, the channel is 8.1.
About Belo
Belo Corp. is one of the nation’s largest media companies
with a diversified group of market-leading television, newspaper, cable and interactive
media assets. A Fortune 1000 company with 7,100 employees and $1.6 billion in
annual revenues, Belo operates in some of
KGW