High definition versus standard or enhanced definition
It is not clear whether broadcasting HDTV or multiple standard definition (SD) channels during non-primetime hours will become common. Many
Public Broadcasting Service member stations are now carrying SD multicasts when not broadcasting in HDTV; but unlike many commercial stations, most of these multicasts are suspended while HDTV programs are being broadcast.
The prevailing expectation is that native HDTV (i.e., programming recorded with a digital HDTV camera) during primetime will predominate. The great majority of primetime television shows in the United States are available in HDTV at the network level. It is up to the affiliates, not all of which have HDTV broadcast capability, to retransmit these shows at HDTV resolutions. A number of non-primetime shows, including morning news shows and some
soap operas, are also available in HDTV.
From proposals to introduction
The
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began soliciting proposals for a new television standard for the U.S. in the late 1980s and later decided to ask companies competing to create the standard to pool their resources and work together, forming what was known as the
Grand Alliance in
1993.
On
July 23,
1996,
WRAL-TV (the
CBS affiliate in
Raleigh, North Carolina) became the first television station in the United States to broadcast a digital television signal.
HDTV sets became available in the U.S. in
1998 and broadcasts began around November 1998. The first public HDTV broadcast was of the launch of the space shuttle
Discovery and
John Glenn's
return to space; that broadcast was made possible in part by
Harris Corporation.The first major sporting event broadcast in HD was
Super Bowl XXXIV on
January 30, 2000.
Satellite and cable
Satellite television companies in the United States, such as
Dish Network and
DirecTV, started to carry HD programming in
2002. Satellite transmissions in the U.S. use various forms of
PSK modulation. A separate tuner is required to receive HD satellite broadcasts.
Cable television companies in the U.S. generally prefer to use
256-QAM to transmit HDTV. Many of the newer HDTVs with integrated
digital tuners include support for decoding 256-QAM in addition to 8VSB. Some
cable television companies, such as
Comcast, started carrying HDTV in
2003. As of September 2005
[update], HD programming is carried by all major
television networks in at least some broadcast markets, including
ABC,
CBS,
NBC,
FOX,
PBS,
The CW, and
MyNetworkTV.