Why no HD news channels in India?

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PhotostarSR

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Its been more than a decade since we had HD TV broadcasts and even in India there are several HD GECs like Star Plus, several sports channels and even regional languages channels like Sun and Gemini are broadcast in HD. Heck, we are even seeing 4K TVs and DTH services.

What I'm really curious about is, why is that super popular news channels like NDTV, Times Now or CNN IBN doesn't have an HD Broadcast? Almost every TV now sold, even in Rural India is an HD TV, so surely there is more than significant population watching their SD channels on HD TVs.

I dont see any technical or financial reason to avoid HD as all of these channels have sufficient money (CNN IBN is Owned by Reliance Ind) and had time to upgrade their cameras and other broadcast equipment to HD and all DTH and Cable operators are carrying HD content.

Don't you guys think there must be some other reason behind not moving to HD?
 
well cnbc india has an HD channel. as regards to other news channels, yes the obvious fact is they don't want to upgrade their infrastructure and spend money. that's the only reason i can think of not switching to HD
 
Good Point by the OP - Yes HD news will be nice to watch,

But I like to add another point - as I see most people (even road side tea stall at rural place got 19"/22"/26 inch with STB) shifted to LCD / LED panel - Why not all SD channel start broadcasting 16:9 ratio from old 4:3 ratio - which no one use anymore.

Check out Al Zajeera news channel - it is a SD channel but look how beautiful in 16:9 ratio. But CNN / BBC still in the 4:3 in our country.
 
Because News Channels concentrated on Clear Sound and not picture.

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Mainly because the footage and clips they get from their sources are not HD. Their sponsored sting operations are not recorded in HD too. Parliamentary recordings, PMO announcements (both center and state government press sources) are not in HD at the moment. Until Doordarshan becomes HD; government sources are unlikely to be upgraded to HD.

Plus Nobody would be willing to pay extra to watch their crap discussions (good for nothing yelling and shouting) in HD.

So that leaves us with in numerable advertisements which we can anyway watch on other HD channels. I'm much interested in improving the quality of content and useful discussions than just video quality.

I'm ready to pay extra if they become more responsible, unbiased in their approach. They make hue and cry on a breaking news of unearthing a new scam ; run it for few days, then take their share and keep quiet. No one follows it up, they're more of extortionists, lobbyists in the name of revolutionary news reporting. Remember Nira Radia Tapes !!
 
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to upgrade to tv channels they have to spend more amount of money for the equipments. Most of the time the footage are run and gun type. So you can't expect HD footage everytime, this is the main reason most of the tv stick to SD
 
I don't understand why footage is not in HD. All lowly phones and camcorder's now are able to shoot in HD directly and save in mpeg 4 format. Either the news channels are really tech ignorant or they're using outdated equipment which was thrown out as junk in other countries.
There's no good reason why SD channels are still broadcast in mpeg2 when all the STB's coming out now are mpeg4 compliant devices. Saying bandwidth is costly also does not make a good argument since mpeg4 gives better compression and quality in the same bandwidth or quality settings as mpeg2.
 
drkrack said:
I'm much interested in improving the quality of content and useful discussions than just video quality.
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Rajya sabha tv.
lok sabha tv but not on youtube unfortunately.

They make hue and cry on a breaking news of unearthing a new scam ; run it for few days, then take their share and keep quiet.
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yeah, the newspapers are better.

No one follows it up, they're more of extortionists, lobbyists in the name of revolutionary news reporting. Remember Nira Radia Tapes !!
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i don't know if its lobbyists but anything that will attract a crowd like some fatal road accident is good for business.

if its too boring then add some chili, twist things around or whatever. Opposition is a very reliable for content. Does not matter if its bS.
 
Apart from the aspect ratio and resolution they seriously need to fix the aesthetic look of these channels, they are such an eyesore compared to the minimal look of something like Al Jazeera.

Times Now for e.g., has garish colours, flashy text-boxes and transitions, two streams of scrolling text, one bar dedicated to the text 'Breaking News', 4 hashtags and one advert bar which limits the actual content to small windows, the ratio of text to video real-estate is pathetic. Almost a case study of what not to do for UI and graphic designers.
 
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one of the main reason will be SD to HD cost of hardware and its recovery as u may know there is not much advertising on HD channels so it would be difficult for news companies of recover cost of HD channels also the maintaining cost will be high
 
^ who says not much advertising on HD channels? The ads are just as bad on HD as on SD. Many channels put those weird animations on bottom of the screen too. These guys are trying to sell as much space as possible. Customers are at a loss here. We pay monthly fee for HD access and still are subject to ads. HD channels are not so premium after all. :|
 
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Their regular audience is typically aged people who come home and watch news channels for hardly a few hours. Other then those typical uncles, others watch news channels only on occasions when they have some news for there interest.. No one is going to pay extra for those HD channels. So they will not spend too much money
 
Couldn't agree more with the real estate per rupee and ad/content per rupee comments.

The only HD channels I'm ready to pay for are DD, BBC, Al Jazeera and CNN. It's a real shame DD could never evolve.

Indian news channels are a circus with tamaashbeen anchors and the loud, gaudy graphics make me nauseous.
 
Hell! Why one needs HD in news as well?
News channel aren't any entertainment channels like daily soaps or music and sports which are and can be supposedly be enjoyed on HD.

And now a days news channels simply suck coz all of them show ads at the exact very time and they last for good 2+ mins.

So they are busy giving importance to ads rather than immediately broadcasting emergency and imp. news like earthquakes, landslides or terror.

Sheer Shame!!
 
The news channels here are so annoying. Specially the horizontal ticker bands that run. They give a head-ache. They are way too over-branded.
 
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