HDTV timeline

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June 16, 2003

The HDTV Story ---- A timeline

by Steve Kindig

Nearly every night you'll see prime-time network TV shows that begin with a "Simulcast in High Definition" message. The amount of HDTV programming is steadily increasing, while the prices of HD-capable TVs and tuners are just as steadily decreasing. If your current TV isn't HD-capable, chances are your next one will be.

Nearly every night you'll see prime-time network TV shows that begin with a "Simulcast in High Definition" message. The amount of HDTV programming is steadily increasing, while the prices of HD-capable TVs and tuners are just as steadily decreasing. If your current TV isn't HD-capable, chances are your next one will be.

The debate surrounding the transition from the analog NTSC broadcast standard to the new ATSC digital standard has shifted from "Will it happen?" to "How long will it take?" But starting from the earliest planning stages over 20 years ago, HDTV's development has been a slow, bumpy ride. This timeline briefly describes the major technological, corporate, and political events that led HDTV to its current position.

For a fascinating, in-depth account from inside the labs, boardrooms, and government panels where the HDTV race was run, check out the book Defining Vision, by Joel Brinkley, a columnist for Stereophile Guide to Home Theater magazine.

1941 NTSC analog television standard (black-and-white) is adopted in the U.S.

1953 NTSC standard is modified to include color broadcasts. After RCA demonstrates its "compatible" 525-line NTSC color TV system, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) reverses its previous decision and designates NTSC as the color broadcast standard instead of CBS's competing color system.

January 1954 Color TV broadcasts begin.

1974 Panasonic first demonstrates an 1125-line analog HDTV system.

1981 A prototype of the Japanese Hi-Vision 1125-line analog HDTV system is demonstrated for SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) in Los Angeles.

1983 The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is formed. The ATSC provides important assistance in documenting and testing the proposed advanced television systems that will ultimately lead to the adoption of the digital television standard.

1983 CBS describes a 1050-line high-definition TV system that would be compatible with the 525-line NTSC broadcast standard.

1987 The FCC rules that any proposed advanced television system must be compatible with the existing NTSC system, and must be confined to the existing VHF and UHF frequency bands. The Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service (ACATS) is created to analyze the television issue and provide information and advice to the FCC.

1988 The Advanced Television Test Center is created to test the various advanced television systems proposed for development.

1989 Japan's NHK network begins satellite-based broadcasting of Hi-Vision analog HDTV (known as Muse in the U.S.). A few loud voices in the American electronics industry push for a comparable government-supported HDTV development program, arguing that otherwise the United States will be left behind in the global high-tech race. Japan and Europe have already established their HDTV standards and are spending heavily to commercialize them.

March 1990 The FCC announces that the advanced television standard must be distinct from the NTSC standard, and must offer true HDTV quality at least twice the resolution of conventional TV. The HDTV signals will be "simulcast" on unused frequency bands while conventional analog NTSC broadcasts will continue for some period of time.

1990 Twenty-three competing companies/organizations vying for adoption of their own version of HDTV consolidate over time down to only five.

June 1990 General Instrument Corporation submits a system proposal based on digital technology, having demonstrated it could squeeze an HDTV-quality signal into the standard 6MHz channel required for broadcast and cable TV. Previously, all of the proposed systems had used analog technology. (Three of the other competing teams would also switch to digital while Japan's NHK continued with analog.)

1991-92 The four digital HDTV systems and the analog NHK television system are vigorously tested.

Early 1993 The analog system is dropped from consideration because its performance doesn't measure up to the digital systems. However, the digital systems have their own shortcomings that must be ironed out.

The Advisory Committee (ACATS) informs the remaining digital system competitors that a second round of testing will be required and that they should each prepare revisions to their standards or, preferably, create a single standard using the best of each technology.

May 1993 The HDTV Grand Alliance is formed to create a single best-of-the-best high-definition digital television standard. The Grand Alliance includes AT&T, the David Sarnoff Research Center, General Instrument, MIT, Philips, Thomson Consumer Electronics, and Zenith.

1994 The Grand Alliance digital HDTV system is constructed as truly a team effort. AT&T and General Instrument jointly build the video encoder. Philips constructs the video decoder. Sarnoff and Thomson cooperate in building the transport subsystem, and Zenith builds the modulation subsystem.

March-August 1995 The Grand Alliance HDTV system is tested and evaluated extensively in the lab and in the field.

November 1995 The Advisory Committee adopts the ATSC Digital Television Standard featuring 18 different format variations including HDTV (High-Definition Television) and SDTV (Standard-Definition Television) formats.

July 1996 The first commercial digital television broadcasts take place at CBS affiliate WRAL in Raleigh, NC, and NBC affiliate WHD-TV in Washington, D.C.

December 24, 1996 The FCC adopts the ATSC Digital Television Standard as recommended by the Advisory Committee (ACATS).

April 1997 The FCC gives broadcasters billions of dollars worth of free broadcast spectrum to simulcast digital television signals alongside analog until December 31, 2006, or whenever HD-capable TV sets penetrate 85% of U.S. households. Once the transition to digital broadcasting is complete, the FCC plans to reclaim the analog spectrum and auction it off.

October 1998 The DIRECTV® satellite TV service begins coast-to-coast delivery of one channel of HDTV programming.

October 29, 1998 Viewers in 21 cities see television history made as Senator John Glenn's return to space aboard the shuttle Discovery is broadcast live nationwide via over-the-air digital HDTV.

November 1998 Forty-one TV stations across the country begin digital television broadcasts.

May 1999 According to the FCC's digital television transition timetable, all network affiliate broadcasters in the top ten U.S. television markets must broadcast digital programming on their allotted digital channels. (As with the FCC's subsequent deadlines, many stations do not comply.)

Fall 1999 Regular network HDTV broadcasts begin, including ABC's Monday Night Football, NBC's The Tonight Show, and CBS's complete prime time lineup except news and "reality" shows. (Of course, only a small percentage of the networks' local affiliate stations are equipped to broadcast in HDTV.)

October 1999 Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc., joined by broadcast owners controlling 250 television stations across the country, files a petition with the FCC raising concerns about the performance of the 8-VSB transmission system used in the ATSC Digital Television Standard. The petition suggests that the FCC consider allowing broadcasters to use the alternative COFDM system used in Europe, Japan, Australia, and several other countries.

February 2000 The FCC reconfirms 8-VSB as the digital television transmission standard after it outperforms the COFDM system in rigorous head-to-head testing.

October 2000 EchoStar's DISH Network satellite TV service offers its first HDTV programming.

May 2002 The FCC timetable calls for all commercial U.S. television stations to broadcast digitals at least part of the time. (Less than 30% of the stations comply.)

December 2002 The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) and cable TV industry sign an HDTV plug-and-play agreement. The goals are to speed the availability of HDTV programming to the nearly 70 percent of American households that rely on cable for their primary television signal, and to ensure compatibility between future TVs and HDTV-capable cable boxes. (Currently awaiting FCC approval.)

April 2005 All TV stations must simulcast 100 percent of their NTSC programming on their digital channel.

December 31, 2006 All TV stations must turn off their analog signal.

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