TruTV in HD...who cares? NCAA Hoops fans.

[Skaggs]

I just read Pete Dougherty's column on the 2011 NCAA Basketball Tourney television schedule and the channel TruTV stuck out to me, as I have never tuned to that channel. I went searching through the channel listings and found that TruTV is not available in High Definition to Albany Time Warner Cable subscribers. It is available in standard definition on channels 50 and 452.

Perhaps we have all become spoiled by the rich HD picture, but watching a game in SD seems like it hurts my eyeballs now. Please don't let my beloved SU Orange play at a venue where Tru TV is televising the game.

Albany Time Warner Cable announced in JULY 2009 (not a misprint...yes, 2009) on the their website's official legal notices that TruTV HD would be added. So, one year, eight months have gone by and still no TruTV HD. I really wouldn't care until now when the NCAA basketball tournament will be shown on the channel.

Pete also had two blog posts about no TruTV HD:

TruTV may have NCAA, but will it have hi-def?

DirecTV will carry TruTV’s NCAA telecasts in HD

I've reached out to TWCableHelp via Twitter for info. They referred me to TWCable_NEast. No response from them.

[Skaggs]

Taking a closer look at NCAA Tournament TV plan
February 10, 2011 at 9:40 pm by Pete Dougherty, Staff writer link

Following today’s announcement that all NCAA Basketball Tournament games will be shown nationally, here’s a look at precisely how the TV schedule breaks down:

FIRST ROUND
Tuesday, March 15
6:30: Game 1, TruTV
9:00: Game 2, TruTV
Wednesday, March 16
6:30: Game 1, TruTV
9:00: Game 2, TruTV
SECOND ROUND
Thursday, March 17
12:00: Game 1 at site A, CBS
12:30: Game 1 at site B, TruTV
1:30: Game 1 at site C, TBS
2:00: Game 1 at site D, TNT
2:30: Game 2 at site A, CBS
3:00: Game 2 at site B, TruTV
4:00: Game 2 at site C, TBS
4:30: Game 2 at site D, TNT
6:45: Game 3 at site C, TBS
7:00: Game 3 at site A, CBS
7:15: Game 3 at site B, TNT
7:15: Game 3 at site D, TruTV
9:15: Game 4 at site C, TBS
9:30: Game 4 at site A, CBS
9:45: Game 4 at site B, TNT
9:55: Game 4 at site D, TruTV
Friday, March 18
12:00: Game 1 at site E, CBS
12:30: Game 1 at site F, TruTV
1:30: Game 1 at site G, TBS
2:00: Game 1 at site H, TNT
2:30: Game 2 at site E, CBS
3:00: Game 2 at site F, TruTV
4:00: Game 2 at site G, TBS
4:30: Game 2 at site H, TNT
6:45: Game 3 at site G, TBS
7:00: Game 3 at site E, CBS
7:15: Game 3 at site F, TNT
7:15: Game 3 at site H, TruTV
9:15: Game 4 at site G, TBS
9:30: Game 4 at site E, CBS
9:45: Game 4 at site F, TNT
9:55: Game 4 at site H, TruTV
THIRD ROUND
Saturday, March 19
12:00: Game 1 at site A, CBS
2:30: Game 2 at site A, CBS
5:00: Game 1 at site B, CBS
6:00: Game 1 at site C, TNT
7:00: Game 1 at site D, TBS
7:30: Game 2 at site B, CBS
8:30: Game 2 at site C, TNT
9:30: Game 2 at cite D, TBS
Sunday, March 20
12:00: Game 1 at site E, CBS
2:30: Game 2 at site E, CBS
5:00: Game 1 at site F, CBS
6:00: Game 1 at site G, TNT
7:00: Game 1 at site H, TBS
7:30: Game 2 at site F, TruTV
8:30: Game 2 at site G, TNT
9:30: Game 2 at cite H, TBS
REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
Thursday, March 24
7:00: Game 1 at site A, CBS
7:15: Game 1 at site B, TBS
9:30: Game 2 at site A, CBS
9:55: Game 2 at site B, TBS
Friday, March 25
7:00: Game 1 at site C, CBS
7:15: Game 1 at site D, TBS
9:30: Game 2 at site C, CBS
9:55: Game 2 at site D, TBS
REGIONAL FINALS
Saturday, March 26
4:20: Game 1 at site A, CBS
6:55: Game 1 at site B, CBS
Sunday, March 27
2:10: Game 1 at site C, CBS
4:55: Game 1 at site D, CBS
FINAL FOUR
Saturday, April 2
6:00: First semifinal, CBS
8:30: Second semifinal, CBS
Monday, April 4
9:20: Championship game, CBS

[scott]

If a game you want to see is on truTV, you can always stream the game online (www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/2010-12-19/ncaa-march-madness-demand) which, depending on your connection, may end up looking better than the SD picture on truTV.

[Chris Miller]

It looks like Verizon is in the process of rolling out TruTV to their various FiOS TV markets.

I guess we will know after March 25th...

[hdtvfan]

I agree. This is another coup by Time Warner. Maybe a rabbit will be pulled out of their arse and TruTV HD will magically appear next week.

Correct me if I am wrong, but haven't most HD additions been done on Monday night/Tuesday morning?

[Brad]

Makes Time Warner look pretty stupid considering they own the d**n network (TruTV), it wouldn't coast them anything to add it to there system seriously bunch of BS.

[Skaggs]

From Wikipedia:

truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner.

and

truTV HD is a 1080i high definition simulcast of truTV, which is available from Dish Network along with cable television providers such as AT&T U-verse, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Cable and Cablevision. DirecTV will launch a temporary part-time HD feed of the channel for coverage of the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, with the full-time 24 hour version later this year.

[Skaggs]

DIRECTV: March Madness On TruTV In HD
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (March 10, 2011) -- DIRECTV says it will air 'March Madness' basketball games this month on TruTV in High-Definition, as well as pre-and-post game coverage.

The satcaster made the disclosure today on its Twitter page.

"Confirmed RT: All NCAA Tournament Games carried on @trutv will be in HD, including pre/post game coverage," the company tweeted this afternoon.

The issue has been generating controversy in the high-def community since CBS announced last year that it would broadcast 2011 NCAA basketball tournament games on TBS, TNT, TruTV as well as on its own network.

DIRECTV offers TBS, TNT and CBS in high-def, but not TruTV. But the satcaster apparently made a deal with the channel to offer the 'March Madness' games in HD.

Sports Business Journal reports that the deal includes DIRECTV adding TruTV full-time in HD later this year.

The tournament's first round will begin on March 17.

[Skaggs]

I went to the Albany TWC channel request page and requested TruTV HD. Here's the automated response I received:

At this time we have no specific plans to offer the TruTV HD network. Should that change at any point in the future, we will surely inform our customers.

[Skaggs]

Got word from Time Warner Cable that they will not have TruTV HD for the NCAA Tournament:

[redsoxfaneb]

And the Syracuse, Friday night game is on TruTV, so in Albany, NY, we won't be able to get our closest NCAA team in HD, highly disappointed in TWC, CBS 6 should air this game in HD!

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/ncaa/03/13/tourney.tiptimes/index.html?eref=sircrc

UPDATE: I contacted Time Warner Cable, and they told me the game "will be in hd", I don't buy it, but I threatened to cancel my service.

[Chris Miller]

Mar 14, 2011 17:29:52 GMT -5 redsoxfaneb said:

UPDATE: I contacted Time Warner Cable, and they told me the game "will be in hd", I don't buy it, but I threatened to cancel my service.

Does that mean it will be carried on 1803? I have the March Madness On Demand app for my iPad, but watching it on a 9.7 in screen would be somewhat less than ideal.

FWIW: TruTV is owned by Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner. Time Warner Cable is a separate entity, it was spun off 2 years from Time Warner.

[redsoxfaneb]

Yeah, I really don't know. My cable box just updated, looked through all the hd channels...no trutv in he yet. I really think it should air on 1803 in hd.

[Skaggs]

From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Syracuse's NCAA Tournament game won't be in HD for many
Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 2:04 PM, Updated: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 2:10 PM

Fans will be able to watch Friday’s NCAA Tournament game between Syracuse and Indiana State on TruTV network. But most people won’t be able to see the game in high definition. Game time is approximately 9:57 p.m.

For the first time in the tournament’s 73-year history, all of the games will be available live in their entirety across four national television networks: CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.

TruTV is channel 52 on Time Warner Cable in Syracuse. There is no HD version available on Time Warner. Verizon Fios has TruTv on channel 183 with no HD version available.

Fans with DirecTV are in luck. TruTV is channel 246 on DirecTV and has an HD version available.

Someone posted in the comments of this blog that Verizon FioS will make TruTV HD available on Wednesday in Central NY.

[scott]

TWC has apparently added TruTV-HD in NYC and Cincinnati (possibly more places but those are the ones I've read online) last night/this morning. I guess there's a chance (but probably not likely) we could see it in the Albany system before Friday's Syracuse game.

www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=652328&page=273 (the relevant posts are toward the bottom of the page)