I write these lines sitting on the steps of the central hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Around me, more than a thousand companies want to sell TV solutions to more than a hundred thousand buyers around the world. The atmosphere presents an incomparable boiling and the predominant theme is high definition. Everything revolves around HD, and I wonder: what does this have to do with us?
Several years ago we insisted that television production companies in Latin America must get ready to produce HD. Not to meet a local demand but to expand business beyond their markets and satisfy the appetite for high-definition content that is beginning to be noticed in the U.S. Hispanic market.
While it's a realistic position, I recognize that it may seem somewhat vile. Should we give up natural markets – our cities, our rural population – and seek higher incomes abroad? The reason is that the socio-economic conditions of our countries do not allow an early implementation of digital open television systems, nor the adoption by the population of HD receivers.
The popularization of radio during the fifties in Latin America corresponded --in many countries-- to a state policy. Radio allowed the consolidation of our cultural identities and also served as an instrument for development in rural communities. Television, in the sixties, played a similar role. The educational potential of television was one of the reasons why the states sought to ensure that the signals covered most of the territory and that television penetrated to the poorest strata of the population.
We can't say the same about high-definition television. A peasant child will be able to learn to add the same on a black-and-white device as on a $1,000 HD monitor. However, I am sure that high definition will reach Latin America. The urban elites of our continent, with purchasing power and ways of life typical of the first world, will adopt high-definition television, cable, satellite or through open signals. Although the decision on the digital TV standard to be adopted in our countries - hopefully it will be discussed in regional integration forums - rests with the regulators, we cannot expect or demand that our governments address the problem of HD television as a state policy. In contrast to the development of television in Latin America half a century ago, this time it is up to the private sector to lead the process of bringing high-definition television. When it is profitable.
