Super Bowl HD

When it comes to whether or not a sub will be able to watch Sun’s big game in HD via their cable op, it’s a mixed bag, according to our sampling of MSOs. Sometimes it’s a matter of whether an MSO has reached a deal with a Fox affil for HD, with cash for carriage often the sticking point, but in other cases, Fox affils haven’t launched HD yet. Comcast says of its 62 HD markets, 44 have Fox HD. While only about 20% of Mediacom’s HD footprint will have access to the game in high-def, evp ops John Pascarelli says that’s primarily because most of the broadcast affils in the MSO’s service area aren’t broadcasting in HD. He estimates that MCCC is carrying 75-80% of the Fox HD signals that are available in its territory. "We’re doing everything we can to get local HD because it’s a competitive advantage to us," he said. Charter estimated that about 2/3 of its HD markets have Fox HD, adding that half of those without it are shut out because no HD signal is available locally. Time Warner declined to provide numbers because it’s still working on a "handful" of agreements before the big game. Cablevision said all customers in its NY DMA have access to Fox HD. At Adelphia, about 52% of subs with access to HD have Fox HD. Of the 48% who don’t, most of the gap (about 2/3) is because there’s no Fox station with an HD feed. Cox has Fox HD in 13 markets. Four markets, including Middle America Cox (which has several small DMAs), don’t have access to a local HD feed. Another 5 markets, including New Orleans, won’t be able to see the game in high-def because of the lack of a carriage deal. No word from Insight by press time.