by , 3:45 PM EST, February 26th, 2007

The TV business knows that most of their viewers will still be watching TV on non-HDTVs for years to come. It could take five more years before the networks fully adopt HDTV's widescreen format according to a story by Mark Cuban at DigitalMediaWire on Sunday.

Movie are always shot as if they're going to be viewed in a theater or, eventually, in a home theater. That sets the scope of the movie's wide screen aspect ratio. However, in the TV business, the frame is still designed for the millions who still have a TV with a 4x3 screen. "The conventional wisdom," Mr. Cuban wrote, "is that dramas and high end shows are shot in film while comedies are shot on HD Tape, and reality shows are regular tape. But all are shot "protected" for regular 4x3 TVs."

One network, however, has moved completely into HDTV, HDNet. All of HDNet's content is created specially for HDTV. HDTV customers, when polled, always show a preference for content shot as HD source, not upconverted from SD tape. A lot of current HD material is still created in that way.

"It's going to be interesting to see how long broadcast and cable networks pander to the 4x3 masses at the expense of those who love their shows in HD. ... it could be 5 or more years before they are willing to change the status quo," Mr. Cuban reported.

Against this background, Apple's decision to sell TV content in 640 x 480, 30fps seems completely practical. The cutoff data for analog TV is only 24 months away, and HDTV sales are booming, but the television industry still cannot afford to cater only to the eager adopters of HDTV.