ION Television to Launch in HD on February 16

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ION Television will launch in HD providing a fully enhanced HD simulcast of the newly rebranded “Positively Entertaining” network, beginning 2/16. ION HD will initially roll out to 20 markets within ION’s 55 market footprint – including top DMA’s like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – with additional roll-outs to occur throughout the year.


The first phase of the ION TV HD launch will reach over 46 million households. ION Media Networks’ digital TV brands, Qubo, a multilingual kids network that champions literacy and positive values, and ION Life, a digital network dedicated to active lifestyles and personal growth, will also be launched across digital platforms in high definition later in 2009.

ION Television in HD will be launched from its newly designed, state-of-the-art transmission platform via expanded satellite transponder capacity. That national distribution will then be delivered over-the-air via DTV broadcast, cable, telco-TV and satellite. The network will feature native and up-converted HD programming, and will be carried on all 60 of ION Media Network’s television stations around the country.

Initial roll-out markets to include:

–          Atlanta
–          Birmingham
–          Boston
–          Chicago
–          Dallas-Ft. Worth
–          Detroit
–          Los Angeles
–          Miami
–          Milwaukee
–          Minneapolis
–          New Orleans
–          New York
–          Norfolk
–          Orlando
–          Philadelphia
–          Phoenix
–          Portland, Or
–          San Francisco
–          Tampa
–          Washington D.C.

The following markets will roll out ION TV in HD later in 2009:
–          Albany
–          Buffalo
–          Cedar Rapids
–          Charleston
–          Cleveland
–          Denver
–          Des Moines
–          Grand Rapids
–          Greensboro
–          Greenville
–          Hartford
–          Honolulu
–          Houston
–          Indianapolis
–          Jacksonville
–          Kansas City
–          Knoxville
–          Lexington
–          Louisville
–          Memphis
–          Nashville
–          Oklahoma City
–          Providence
–          Raleigh
–          Roanoke
–          Sacramento
–          Salt Lake City
–          San Antonio
–          Seattle
–          Spokane
–          Syracuse
–          Tulsa
–          Wausau
–          West Palm Beach
–          Wilkes-Barre