CBS Partners With Sears & Samsung To Bring College Football Into The Digital Age

CBS Television announced on August 1, that the corporation will team with Samsung Electronics and Sears, Roebuck & Co. to broadcast the 2001 season of leading college football games in HDTV. The collaboration marks the first time such games have been broadcast in HDTV and the first time a broadcaster, manufacturer and retailer have partnered to promote HDTV usage.

The broadcasts begin with the September 15 match-up between Florida and Tennessee and end with the Army/Navy game on December 1. The Florida State/Florida rivalry game on November 17 will be one of the games in the line-up.

Accompanying the broadcasts, Sears and Samsung will carry on in-store promotions where shoppers will be able to watch the games in HD, while comparing the picture to an accompanying analog broadcast.

"Joining with Samsung and Sears to broadcast high definition college football to our audience is a major step in CBS's ongoing, industry-leading efforts to bring the extraordinary HD viewing experience to America's television viewers," said CBS Television Executive Vice President Martin Franks.

CBS has a long history of HDTV promotion and has been a leader in the nation's on-going transition to digital. During the past two years, the network has been broadcasting a majority of its primetime programming in HDTV; 17 of its 18 primetime dramas and comedies are in HDTV. College football continues a long list of CBS HDTV broadcast sporting events. During the 2000/2001 season CBS broadcast three days of the U.S. Open Tennis tournament, the Thanksgiving Day NFL game, four post-season NFL games, The Super Bowl, the Hawaiian Golf Open and, for the second straight year, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship and four days of the Masters.

With the digital broadcast of the 2001 college football season and the recent digital debut of the daytime drama "The Young and The Restless," CBS will be broadcasting 26 hours in HDTV each week. Currently, 40 CBS owned and affiliated stations, including WRAL-TV, broadcast in digital television.