World Series fans at Boston’s Fenway Park this week may have noticed something else in the sky other than flying baseballs—namely a 2,100-square-foot LED screen on the DirecTV HD Starship.
The DirecTV blimp, floating 1,000 above the ballpark, is equipped with an HD aerial camera system and the world’s largest airborne LED video screen. The company—which did not claim the LED screen itself counts as high-definition—says the apparatus is the first of its kind to operate in North America and one of only two worldwide.
It will show the DirecTV HD spots and logo, part of DirecTV’s marketing campaign related to its ambitious rollout of HD channels.
The 178-foot long blimp boasts a 70-by-30-foot full-color monitor just beneath the DirecTV logo. The screen has a resolution of 33,600 total pixels, the largest ever made for a blimp. The airship can travel up to 35 miles per hour and remain airborne up to six hours.
It’s operated by the Lightship Group and will also provide HD aerial camera shots for the Fox Sports broadcast of the Boston games.
DirecTV said the blimp will also appear over NFL and college football games as well as NASCAR races. The company did not say whether the blimp would fly to Denver for the World Series games scheduled there.
“We’ve taken the HD high ground from the competition, now we’ve commandeered the airspace above to let consumers know who has best and most HD programming,” said spokesman Jon Gieselman.
