WNBC Goes HD in Top DMA

WNBC in New York City this week became the first local broadcaster in America's largest TV market to go HD for its local newscasts, following only a relative handful of other local stations nationwide.

WNBC, an O&O of NBC Universal, will produce up to 30 hours a week of news, entertainment, and sports programming to air in 1080i. According to published reports, the broadcaster's HD control room consists of 10 monitors that will carry as many as 130 video feeds at its headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center, the home of the NBC network.

While local broadcasters now routinely pass through primetime HD content from their respective networks, not much more than a dozen stations are estimated to be airing their own local HD content, to date.