ACCT in HD

General NCS Basketball10

Thank goodness…but not everyone will be able to benefit from the news.

Good news, ACC fans with high-definition TVs: You’ll be seeing basketball games in HD just in time for March Madness.

So says Colin Smith, vice president of distribution at Raycom Sports, which distributes ACC games for broadcast in partnership with Lincoln Financial Sports.

Smith said that the 10 tournament games being distributed by Raycom/Lincoln Financial Sports (the 11th game at 7 p.m. March 8 will be carried on ESPN2) will be available for local affiliates like WRAL in HD.

The current situation, in which games are available only in ACC territory in standard definition, has been galling for fans across the Southeast. Many of the same games they see on local affiliates in standard definition are available outside the ACC region in high definition.

That’s because Raycom/Lincoln Financial Sports, which owns the exclusive distribution rights, hasn’t been offering a high-definition package to affiliates, including WRAL in Raleigh. So while fans across the nation were enjoying last Wednesday’s Duke-UNC game in high definition on ESPN, that broadcast was blacked out for hardcore fans in the Triangle. (FCC requirements and exclusivity clauses prohibit two broadcasts of a game in the same market.)

For the full story, see Saturday’s N&O sports section.

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General NCS Basketball

10 Responses to ACCT in HD

  1. Texpack 02/09/2007 at 9:51 PM #

    My real issue with Raycom is their black outs of games broadcast on Fox Sports South outside of the ACC region. These are games NOT included in the ESPN Full Court package either. For those of us who live in other parts of the country and subscribe to the regional sports channels, it’s particularly frustrating. I would gladly trade games in HD for the 6-7 games this season that have been blacked out here. Raycom has admitted to me via e-mail that it is their problem to solve. Perhaps someone here can enlighten me as to who would be harmed if these games were shown to the entire country, instead of just to the ACC region.

  2. Sw0rdf1sh 02/10/2007 at 8:57 AM #

    I applaud this as when you watch Raycom games on my 52″ HD Sony it looks like poo. More like little block players running up and down the court.

  3. Alex_01 02/10/2007 at 10:27 AM #

    I don’t understand this; I just assumed that Raycom was too cheap to buy HD equipment or something. Does this mean that they could have been showing the games in HD all along and haven’t? Also the picture quality of the games being shown in standard definition here in charlotte is terrible anyway.

  4. BJD95 02/10/2007 at 10:28 AM #

    I’ll go on record now and bet that NC State will now play in the one ESPN2 game (not available in HD for almost all cable subscribers), and lose. That would ensure that NC State would go HD-less for 2006-07, at least in my household.

    It really pissed me off that we got 2 national games on ABC…and BOTH were broadcast in lame-assed SD.

  5. CaptainCraptacular 02/10/2007 at 10:48 AM #

    Just for the record. The UNC-Duke game also suffered the HD blackout in Orlando. Raycom was also broadcasting the game in this market.

  6. mroli 02/10/2007 at 12:20 PM #

    the issue has been (at least claimed) that Raycom had the feed, but the local stations could not handle the feed from an external source. Raycom guarantees the tourney to the locals in order to assure carrying the regular season games.

    thank god they got their house in order. last year they were deluged with complaints.

  7. wolfonthehill 02/10/2007 at 12:32 PM #

    Hmmmm – we’re in the process of debating making the leap to a 50-inch plasma – this could accelerate that decision…

  8. Texpack 02/10/2007 at 2:49 PM #

    HD is definitely worth the move to a larger TV. We went 65″ DLP before football season and it was well worth it between college and the NFL. Having ESPN2 HD is nice. Scrap the cable.

  9. wolfonthehill 02/10/2007 at 4:06 PM #

    ^ Already don’t have cable – I have DTV. I’m not crazy about their hardware (their R15 DVR is full of bugs, and I hear the HR20 is no better). But I’m not silly enough to still pay a cable company. 😉

    Now that locals are available in HD on DTV, I’m pulling the trigger… figuring on a 50-inch plasma, with viewing from about 8-10 feet.

  10. DaPackster 02/10/2007 at 4:20 PM #

    about damn time

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