[Nick]

ESPN opted against renting a Russian cargo plane

ESPN will air a college football game from Hawaii in high-definition for the first time, thanks to a makeshift high-definition control room made out of three office trailers.

The broadcast of the Cornerstone Bancard Hula Bowl in HD on Jan. 14 means ESPN will air all but one of its college football bowl games in high-definition this season.

Network officials would not disclose how much more they were paying to produce the Hula Bowl in HD. The cost of producing a game in HD is 25 percent to 30 percent higher than standard-definition broadcasts, but Hawaii presents unique challenges because of the difficulty in transporting the HD trucks usually used for producing games to the islands.

ESPN said it had opted against renting a Russian cargo plane for about $400,000 to fly an HD truck over, and shipping a truck to Hawaii was considered too time-consuming.

Full story @ BizJournals.com

(Ed. Note: A tip of ol' Santa's hat to HDTV Magazine.com for the heads-up on what is bound to be a colorful "HulaDivas" event!)

 

[jimbo09]

ESPN opted against renting a Russian cargo plane

(Ed. Note: A tip of ol' Santa's hat to HDTV Magazine.com for the heads-up on what is bound to be a colorful "HulaDivas" event!)

I assume they will be broadcasting much of their Pro Bowl week stuff in HD, so maybe they will leave the equipment there. I know they don't broadcast the game this year, but they do a lot of broadcasts from Hawaii each year preceeding the Pro Bowl.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

I could be wrong... but I don't remember any of the Pro Bowl stuff last year being in HD. Of course I didn't watch the boring game anyway, but I don't remember any HD.

With the troubles of sending stuff to Hawaii... someone could make a nice little business for a few years here in Hawaii by investing in some mobile HD broadcast setup and allowing the various networks to "lease" it for use in broadcasting games from Hawaii. There are lots of basketball games (college) and some football games (bowl and Pro Bowl) that could make use of it.

Given the costs and time constraints of a network trying to send stuff to Hawaii and back to cover a game... someone already in Hawaii could make a good profit I would think owning & leasing his own HD setup.