The Selling of HDTV: The Message is the Medium

The Perfect Vision, Fall 1989

In 1998 our nearly 70-year-old analog broadcast system was replaced with the digital high-definition system we have today, which marked the launch of widescreens, a huge jump in image detail and color resolution, and advanced digital sound. The shift was a seriously long time coming, and in the decade prior government agencies, consumer electronics marketers, and media entities representing broadcast, cable, and satellite TV operators each battled for a solution that would give them favored status. In late 1986, 12 years before the eventual launch, I pitched what I thought would be a series of articles about the development of HDTV to Harry Pearson for The Absolute Sound’s relatively new video-oriented sister publication, The Perfect Vision. Eventually, I spit out a single big feature that not only laid out the then-current state of affairs, but also offered commentary about the value—and dangers—of television generally and how the jump to HDTV might make things worse. I drew from my personal perspective as a former network tech at CBS News and had fun with the story. If you read just the lead/intro on the first couple of pages and the closing paragraphs on the last page you’ll get the gist. In retrospect, my warnings back then about the risks of screens seem quaint, if not a little prescient, in these days of addictive, handheld devices and social media. Not to mention my quip in the next to last paragraph about Donald Trump.