Only One Bengals Preseason Game in HDTV

I've seen your questions on this blog about Bengals games in high-def, so here's the good news/bad news:

Only one preseason Bengals game will be in HDTV, thanks to ESPN's Monday night telecast from Atlanta on Aug. 27. It will be simulcast in HDTV by Channel 12.

None of three local game broadcasts – produced by the team, not Channel 12 – will be in HDTV, starting with the preseason opener Thursday (7:30 p.m., Channels 12, 22).

Now for the good news: All of the 16 regular season games probably will be in HDTV. CBS, which airs AFC games, will do almost all ("five or six games per week") in HDTV, says a CBS Sports spokesman. Fox will do all NFL games in HDTV, including the Bengals home games with the Arizona Cardinals (Nov. 18) and St. Louis Rams (Dec. 9).

More good news: All 20 Bengals games – four exhibition and 16 regular season --will air live here, because all home games sold out, says Vince Cicero, corporate sales and marketing director.

If you want to watch on tape-delay, like the old days, three preseason games (not the ESPN game) will repeat twice Fox Sports Net Ohio. The Detroit game replays on FSNO at midnight after the game, and at 4 p.m. Sunday (after the Reds-Padres game).

Cicero says it's too costly for the club to produce preseason games in HDTV. "We’ll re-evaluate it for 2008. The costs are coming down each year, because more equipment and trucks are becoming available," says Vince Cicero, corporate sales and marketing director.

If CBS can't do the entire regular season in HDTV, why should we be surprised that the Bengals aren’t doing exhibition games in HDTV?

Let me anticipate your other questions: Still no word on Time Warner Cable picking up the NFL Network or Big Ten Network. But Time Warner says ESPNU will be added this month, but no word yet on date or channel position.