Washington, DC's WJLA (ABC 7) turns on HD newscasts
By Darren Murph 
posted Dec 8th 2008 1:59PM
posted Dec 8th 2008 1:59PM
It's time to celebrate, DC, as you finally have more than one option to turn to when scouting HD news. For some four years, WUSA (CBS 9) has been the lone high-def news station in the immediate region, but at long last WJLA (ABC 7) has stepped in to give it some much needed competition. Reportedly, the station aired its first HD newscast during the noon hour on December 8th, with the next episodes to hit at 5:00PM and 6:00PM for those scooting out of work. So, which network has next?[Thanks, Ammar]
Wow, it's about time. It was embarrassing to see the DC market stuck with 1 HD local news option while smaller markets have 2 or more. Any word on whether Newschannel 8 (the 24 hour local news channel owned by WJLA) is going HD as well?
Newschannel 8 will be going HD sometime as well, but it's not known which, if any, cable companies will carry it.
As for broadcast HD news, WTTG is probably next, and WRC, owned by cheapskates NBC Universal, is probably a long, long way off.
As long as Channel 4 is the #1 News in DC, there's no need for them to change. Channel 9 did it because they were/are last in the ratings, Channel 7 is doing it to try and catch up to Channel 4.
I caught the tail end of the noon broadcast. The audio was not set up properly. I heard the voices of the newscasters coming out of the surround speakers, not the front center speaker
Oh, they totally screwed up the 12noon News. Wasn't just the few minutes you saw.
I just checked out the 11PM broadcast. Looks and sounds great, except they had the wrong graphics behind the anchor at one point and didn't bother to change them while the pre-taped segment was on!
I live in Baltimore so it would be nice if some of the major network affiliates go HD here. I think it's pretty sad when the lowly Fox affiliate can get an HD newscast before the NBC, ABC or CBS affiliates get there (although I hear the NBC affiliate, WBAL, is about to make the switch soon - but still, they were beat to the punch by Fox!). Congrats to D.C.