If HDTV Is Not Worth the Wooing: The Case for Hollywood and Electronic Cinema to Lead the Movement (1996)

This is certainly true for HDTV. If this technology/art-tool is not worth "wooing" we had all better stop thinking about it. Ro me this is hardly the case. There are many thousands of people around the world who are wooing HDTV and they want it. The big question is how?

Today the industry finds itself suffering from a history of electro/political maneuvering with companies and countries vying for supremacy of what they believe will be huge markets. This maneuvering has yielded multiple standards in an increasingly global era, leaving the most powerful from entering in commercially to make original and attractive HDTV programs--the most important thing for exciting the public. Film, as the result, remains the medium of choice for high-end productions and will for some time.

There are "artificial" HD production markets which have been created by the promotional forces, such agencies as the EC's Vision 1250; Japan's NHK; the Minister of International Trade and Industry in Japan; Minister of Post Telecommunications in Japan; and host of global and regional manufacturers (for demonstration purposes). Indeed, there is a growing body of work from these efforts. The promotional funds have fostered a certain interest and technique in HD productions, but the financial test for making commercial programs in HDTV in any standard has fallen short... so far.

The manufacturers of HDTV production and receivers appear to have run their course. The idea of further financing HDTV is weakening within them, though it is not completely gone. Manufacturers believe they are at the mercy of the broadcast (include here cable & DBS) domain to provide signals so as to create consumer interests. Will that domain be an active participant in the process of commercialization of HDTV through the providing of ample signals to the pubic? Broadcasters have not found one single economic incentive yet to do so. Will they if forced into it by the FCC? This is apparently the case, but those who study these matters believe that the broadcasters will be able to hold to the spectrum they are seeking for years to come without having to put any HDTV signals through the air. So far no business plan on the table insures by way of economic incentive the cooperation from the signal delivery systems of the world to ignite consumer interest in HDTV. No "vision" has emerged showing how the signal providers will make money being the pioneers unless under some assistance. What is needed urgently is a new global vision that reveals clear economic incentive to the signal providers. There needs to be a vision which is derived from not one, two or three of the interdependent stakeholders in HDTV, but from all of them combined. That vision must be clear and trustworthy. It must have adequate adherents, enough to place into the lead the most powerful attraction form found in all the related and inter-dependant businesses. One thing remains a certainty-people watch programming and are not overly focused upon the technology.

There are, of course, some wide-screen experimental broadcasting trials in Europe as well as the well known experimental HD broadcasting in Japan. This has so far not ignited positive public opinion nor been the source of enthusiasm. Price of the receivers is but one problem. Uncertainty about standards is another. Size of the device for the home is still another. Finally, the greatest failure of the HDTV movement is that no programs of repute can be attributed to it. Some believe if just one "hit" could be attributed to the HDTV technology the movement would move forward rapidly.

The US motion picture industry sells its products by way of tickets and tapes licensed or sold outright to citizens in every nation. The motion picture industry is and has been the single most powerful promotional force on earth. It is the only source of popular and sought after programming. The motion picture industry can and must take the lead in HDTV. It can do that via the electronic cinema.

This idea is not new. It remains, you say rightly, without its most vital technical tool-the big screen reliable projector. But the projector is thought to be possible and there is ample reason to believe it is now no more than three years away. In the meantime Hollywood will have to prove to itself that the added value to the movie copyright when using electronic cinema is great enough that the risk/cost for developing the projector will be acceptable. The studios need to secure their position in this time of great technical potential and upheaval coming just around the corner. There is a serious danger and threat to Hollywood if electronic cinema is not their ally and servant. Negative pick-ups are are exclusively financial in nature and not dependant upon a studio. In short, if you have the money you can outbid everyone else and buy a new finished movie from its producer.

That purchase is all the more viable if you have a superior way to distribute it. All the real estate you need is an office. All the exhibition you need can be created with an electronic franchise exhibition system.

Electronic cinema is the finest demonstration candidate for HDTV to the consumer public. The business of electronic cinema is sure to be as global as is the appeal for Hollywood movies. Protection and copyright security is easier in the electronic domain than with film. Selling consumers tickets to movies and special events at the electronic cinema box office insures public education in just what the benefits are for HDTV. From that first market the industry has the power to influence the consumer markets. For this to be so the industry needs full coordination so as to neither jump the gun nor be too late.