Caveat Empty: When HD's Not HD

A problem selling cable HD at retail sometimes has been the lack of true, HD streaming content for sets in stores. In a few cases HD sets used to pitch cable aren’t even showing high-def content if the store’s not wired for cable, S-A dir, product marketing J.T. Taylor says. His company is pitching a solution that can be used in any retail space where there’s foot-traffic (kiosk, payment center, etc). A predetermined amount of cable content is downloaded onto the DVR hard drive of an S-A set-top box and then looped for shoppers to view. If customers like what they see, they can buy the HDTV and become a sub of the MSO at the same time. S-A deployed the solution with a Canadian MSO with positive results. It’s received requests from US MSOs to do the same, but no launches yet. Taylor talked up the looping tech during CTAM’s "Closing the HD Gap-Field Tested Tactics" Webcast Thurs. (Taylor says he received a lot of MSO inquires after the Webcast). — Other tactics mentioned during the hour-long presentation included monitoring tech-heavy blogs like Audio Visual Science Forum (http://www.avsforum.com). HD owners tend to watch a lot of movies, play-by-play sports and concerts, says Sergei Kuharsky, evp sales & marketing, InDemand Networks. The CTAM panelists agreed word-of-mouth is the best way to sell HDTVs.