AP To Offer Live HD Coverage of Royal Wedding

AP plans to break into the live HDTV
businesses with a royal bang.

It said Thursday it will offer customers its first-ever live
HD coverage when it televises the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton
on April 29. AP says the coverage, seven hours available to any Global Video
Wire or APTN Direct customer, "marks the beginning of AP's full video
output being available in HD."

In addition it will provide standard-def coverage, photos,
and interactives.

AP is investing $30 million for an HD upgrade to its video
capabilities,
which it says will be finished in time for the 2012 London Olympics and U.S.
Presidential Election.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.