Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert begin HDTV broadcasts January 4

Cross another one off the "waiting for them to go HD" list, as Comedy Central is upgrading The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report to 1080i. What caused the wait until 2010? Apparently that's how long it took to upgrade the control room for these shows that are continuously in production, but at least we'll get to see how many CNBC thumbnails Stewart can squeeze into a 16x9 frame before the Mayan calendar runs out.

[jhoff80 Posted Dec 18th 2009 4:17PM]

Do any providers currently even have Comedy Central in HD?

[CollateralDmg Posted Dec 18th 2009 4:41PM]

@jhoff80 That was my first thought as well.

Some quick browsing reveals that both DirecTV and Dish have it in HD, as do Verizon FIOS and AT&T Uverse, but my personal Cable company (time warner) doesn't.

[UnnDunn Posted Dec 18th 2009 5:17PM]

@jhoff80 I have it on Cablevision in NYC.

[JonathanRN Posted Dec 18th 2009 5:24PM]

@jhoff80 I have Comedy Central HD. I'm Comcast in the SF Bay Area. I just recorded Louis C.K.'s latest special in HD. Looks pretty good considering it's pretty heavily compressed. I'm REALLY looking forward to The Daily Show in HD!

[MJGAMER 1991 XBL Posted Dec 18th 2009 7:07PM]

@JonathanRN You have CC in HD on Comcast??? WTF, I don't get it here in Massachusetts! I get like no good channels in HD. God damn bureaucrats...

[jhoff80 Posted Dec 18th 2009 9:21PM]

@MJGAMER 1991 XBL Same here in Comcast in MA, and my parents in NJ (also Comcast) don't get it either.

Maybe when Comcast turns off analog here next month they'll add more HD.

[Michael Kirschner Posted Dec 18th 2009 11:21PM]

@MJGAMER 1991 XBL Comcast of Connecticut has CCHD on channel 268

[InternetJunkie06 Posted Dec 20th 2009 11:09AM]

@CollateralDmg

Some Time Warner Cable division do have the Viacom Channels now. Check your local listings.

[TraderMike Posted Dec 20th 2009 12:28PM]

@jhoff80

My area in Atlanta just got it last month on Comcast

[firesign Posted Dec 22nd 2009 1:49PM]

@jhoff80 TWC in Cincinnati has it.

[txphisher Posted Dec 18th 2009 5:21PM]

Woohoo!!! Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!

This is the best news I've heard in a very long time. This is one of the few shows I never ever miss and it's also one of the only ones I watch that is still in SD.

[Scarabaeus Posted Dec 18th 2009 5:57PM]

Now if TiVo, Tribune Media and Concast could finally figure out which timezone their ComedyCentralHD channel is in, then I could even record this. The channel is an east coast feed with west coast programming info, offset by three hours...

[chestnu1 Posted Dec 18th 2009 9:03PM]

@Scarabaeus you can report to tivo about guide data errors through a website that they have it takes about a week to fix something.

[Scarabaeus Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:15PM]

Sure, did that already. And, that same evening my TiVo showed the updated channel info. And the next day another channel followed. I think now they got most of the new HD channles right.

[JimC Posted Dec 18th 2009 5:58PM]

Wow..Oh joy, I'm all giddy with anticipation...NOT!

[dmccall Posted Dec 18th 2009 6:42PM]

Nobody, and I mean nobody, thinks that Jon Stewart is as funny as..Jon Stewart.

[mburstin Posted Dec 18th 2009 9:38PM]

@dmccall I don't know, just about everyone I know thinks he's pretty damn funny.

[JBDragon Posted Dec 18th 2009 10:11PM]

Jon Stewart is a A$$. I'll never watch that crap of a show. He's not funny. Just a huge Idiot. Now in HD? Still don't care...

[Michael Kirschner Posted Dec 18th 2009 11:24PM]

@JBDragon You would like him, you two have a lot in common

[The Architect Posted Dec 19th 2009 10:22PM]

@JBDragon Steward is far more intelligent than any of the talking heads on corporate "news" networks.

[Michael Kirschner Posted Dec 18th 2009 11:23PM]

You would like him, you two have a lot in common

[maniii Posted Dec 20th 2009 1:28PM]

yeah ! baby !
Finally recognition fame and fortune !
The mainstream can KISS their programming goodbye

So now that u are in HD Jon ... Please dont take no from GW Bush //// evar !

[Jason Murray Posted Dec 21st 2009 9:19AM]

They've been dropping hints about it on air for a little while.

I noticed the Daily Show's upgraded graphics a few weeks ago (in the show opening the monitor that used to be in portrait mode showing the logo is now landscape, the background graphics have been upgraded and the on-screen graphics have a bit more "sparkle" particle effects to them).

Colbert mentioned "we're going HD soon" a few weeks ago, and said "good bye, set" at the end of last wednesday's show :)

[FarmerBob Posted Dec 21st 2009 5:08PM]

There were rumblings a long while ago about the fact that Colbert was in HD not mentioning 4:3 though, even having the CCHD logo, and The Daily Show in SD, what with Stewart being the "progenitor" and producer of Colbert.

So I have had Colbert in "HD" for a long time and what I think they are talking about now is not HD which can be several frame sizes, but going 16:9. Just waiting on TDS to be just HD. Although, they upgraded the set long ago. But with this new surge of conversation it looks as though CC is stepping up with their top shows. Just wish they would start them at the top/bottom of the hour instead of letting Futurama go 5-10 minuted into the hour/TDS. The sad part is not less commercials, but less show. Because they seem to come zero up on the hour when finished.

Craig Ferguson had to "whine" about HD, along the fact that he "only had one good light" for a long time until CBS/David Letterman put him in HD and 16:9. So since TCR has been HD for quite some time it could be that they are going from 4:3 to 16:9 that's the real story. Which a lot of people don't realize. HD is not only when you get 16:9 picture ratio. It can also be 4:3 and "mini-16:9 in a 4:3 frame. Of which I am not sure if there is a number or name for it other than lame.

[pohatu771 Posted Dec 22nd 2009 9:28AM]

@(Unverified) Craig had HD capabilities before the show went HD, though. I remember seeing a commercial for the show in HD months before they switched the show over.