Beginning in September, Chum Television's Citytv plans to broadcast Toronto's number one morning show, Breakfast Television, in HD, as well as CityLine and CityNews at noon, 6 pm and 11 pm. With this announcement, Citytv is positioned to become the first daily newscast in Canada to air in high definition, states an official release.

The order from Chum includes X75HD M-Path Multiple-Path Converter/Synchronizers, Neo XHD broadcast-quality, modular HDTV converters and the 6800+ modular down-converters for utility applications. Also included in the order are CCS Pilot control and monitoring software and Nucleus user-configurable, network control panels, which support centralized operational control of all the conversion, processing and routing equipment, the release adds.

"Since Citytv Toronto became the first over-the-air Canadian broadcaster to transmit an HD signal in 2003, choosing the best available technology has been fundamental to our success," says Chum Television broadcast technology director Bruce Cowan. "The Harris HD conversion portfolio is proven technology that offers an unmatched range of options that enabled us to work with a single vendor to meet all the conversion requirements of this ambitious project."

Harris offers a range of compact HD conversion solutions to meet every application and every budget. Designed for multi-function, broadcast-quality applications, the powerful X75(TM)HD is ideal for a dynamic environment where multiple signal types may be encountered and multiple path processing desired. The Neo XHD series offers single- or multi-function, broadcast-quality conversion modules in an advanced-application platform. For utility applications, the 6800+ HUC/HDC series delivers single-function, broadcast/monitoring conversion products in a flexible, exceptional-value platform.