* In 1993 WFAA and parent company A.H. Belo Corporation began initial planning of digital transmission of High Definition Television.

* In September 1997, WFAA became the first television station in America to preview HDTV to a mass audience. The first exhibition was during Neiman Marcus’ 3-week long 90th anniversary celebration in downtown Dallas where an estimated 50-thousand people viewed this new technology in a special display area.

* Also in September, WFAA previewed "the future of television" a specially-built theater with an 8-minute tour into “the brave new world of HDTV.” An estimated audience of 150,000 people saw this demonstration at the State Fair of Texas.

* In January 1998, WFAA previewed HDTV for the first time in Fort Worth at the Museum of Science & History. Thousands of people attended the demonstration which set an attendance record for the museum during the month of January.

* On February 27, 1998 WFAA was the first tv station to broadcast HDTV on a VHF signal. The following afternoon, WFAA broadcast the nation’s first local newscast in High Definition. The station also “upconverted” ABC’s network signal and broadcast the market’s first “live” sporting events -- a boxing match and the Kentucky/North Carolina college basketball game.

* On July 1st, WFAA began full power digital broadcasts on WFAA-HD, Channel 9. The station’s digital antenna at Cedar Hill rises 1573 feet into the Texas sky.

* The first HDTV sets began arriving in American electronics stores in August 1998. Initially, the set costs will generally range between $5-10,000. As with early color TV sets, CDs and VCRs, experts predict the price of HDTV sets will decline after a few years.

* HDTV sets provide 5.1 channels of CD quality surround-sound. The 16 x 9 screen ratio is the same as a theater screen and is about a third wider than the 4 x 3 ratio of current analog TV sets.