October 5, 2007

HDTV Owners Happy With Picture Quality, Not So With Content

Nielsen Media Research's 2007 High Definition Survey has found that 48% of HDTV customers rate the picture quality of HD television as excellent, but only 12% feel the same about HD programming options.

Steve McGowan, Nielsen Senior Vice President Client Research Initiatives stated that "Nielsen's High Definition Survey shows that HD technology is outpacing content, although a few networks do score high in consumer satisfaction" such as sports channel ESPN HD, documentary channel Discovery HD, and movie channel HBO HD.

Sports and movies were found to be the most popular HDTV content with reality programming (ugh!) and music bringing up the rear. Discovery Theater HD was deemed to have the best picture and 20% of survey respondents stated that they watch more TV since purchasing their high-definition TV.

The survey included 511 participants who were interviewed by telephone at the end of June and beginning of July of this year.

Via TVDecoder, PRNewswire