TNT Goes High Def

Turner announced its 1st HD net, kicking off TCA Tues with news of TNT HD’s May launch. "High-def is a sufficient enough priority for us that we’re taking our premiere network and doing a high-def offering," says Andy Heller, TBS pres, domestic distribution. "That said, we are taking a bet, and if it turns out that the consumer doesn’t care or that we don’t see the kind of growth in the television sales and people signing up for high-def service and not churning out, we’ll revisit our own beliefs. But we think this is real and that it’s time to play." Turner’s first 24/7 high-def service will offer NBA coverage (it’s launching during the NBA Western Conference finals) and TNT’s original movies and franchises such as "L&O" with more (including this summer’s "The Grid") to come, for a mix of shot-in-HD and converted content at launch. "We’re going to try to up-convert anything that we don’t do ourselves in high-def," Heller says. (Shirley Brady)