PBS To Launch ìPBS HD Channelî March 1, 2004, Featuring State-Of-The-Art, Award-Winning Programming In High-Definition & Widescreen 

1-Mar-04

Continuing its decades-long leadership in television technology, PBS announced the March 1, 2004 launch of the PBS HD Channel, making PBS the first broadcaster to provide a fully packaged 24/7 channel consisting entirely of High-Definition and Widescreen content. The PBS HD Channel will be available from local PBS stations that have transitioned to digital broadcasting, as well as through local digital cable systems that have agreed to retransmit the digital signal of their local public television station.ìThe launch of the PBS HD Channel is a significant milestone in PBSí commitment to the digital transition,î said Pat Mitchell, PBS President and CEO. ìLocal PBS digital stations already offer a range of digital services, including unique, groundbreaking multicasting content. The PBS HD Channel will be a key component of PBS' growing digital portfolio.îThere are currently 236 local PBS stations on the air with digital signals, reaching more than 85 percent of U.S. TV households. The PBS HD Channel joins a suite of PBS digital services, including PBS KIDS Channel and PBS YOU (ìYour Own Universityî) and the VOD cable package, ìPBS KIDS on Demand.î The PBS HD Channel will feature a mix of new and library HD and Widescreen programs. New HD and Widescreen programs will simulcast with their analog national PBS premiere broadcast, and will repeat on the PBS HD Channel during the week following their premiere.Programming highlights on the PBS HD CHANNEL in March 2004 include: NOVA ìHunt for the Supertwister,î in which viewers will take a thrilling ride with tornado hunters and investigate the ingenious new approaches that will one day help forecasters stay one step ahead of a devastating twister (HD); GREAT PERFORMANCES ìConcert for Georgeî -- the historic Royal Albert Hall tribute to the late George Harrison, in its American television premiere (HD); INNOVATION ìHi-Tech War,î which follows soldiers who used the latest in battle technologies in Iraq, and the engineers back home who developed them (WS); CHIHULY OVER VENICE,î a documentary on the work of glass artist Dale Chihuly (HD); NOVA ìLife and Death in the War Zone,î covering the Iraq War's emergency medical response teams, chronicling doctors, nurses, and medics in a frontline Combat Support Hospital (WS); and ìJAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS,î a PBS KIDS show featuring the voice of Mel Brooks (HD).In the coming months the PBS HD Channel will showcase some of PBSí most renowned signature series, including AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, GREAT PERFORMANCES, NATURE, NOVA, and EXXONMOBIL MASTERPIECE THEATRE, as well as the new drama series AMERICAN FAMILY.For more information, please visit http://www.pbs.org.

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