24-HOUR SPORTS TV REDEFINED.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

Here's how'll it happen. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. Try Sunday, when you're over at a friend's house to watch the Angels-Rangers season opener.

He'll flip on the set to the new ESPN channel that happens to be in high definition. You'll be speechless. Temporarily.

``Dude, that picture is awesome.''

``Dude, told you it was.''

``Dude, I gotta get this.''

``Dude, it's not that expensive.''

``Dude, don't mess with me.''

``Dude, check out the ads for the new big screens.''

(Long pause).

``Dude, you got a truck I can borrow?''

The fast-and-furious revolution of televised sports takes another technological leap of faith this weekend. ESPN's investment in the first 24- hour HDTV sports channel starts with only about 22 million cable subscribers but is nevertheless another defining moment in the high-def evolution.

``We are going to change the way sports television is viewed; that's not an understatement,'' Jed Drake, ESPN's senior vice president and executive producer of ESPN HD, said Thursday. ``It will be the most important thing we do.''

Just as ESPN showed foresight in the '90s by establishing ESPN.com on the Internet before other sports networks jumped in, this endeavor should push consumers who've been on the fence about the technology to the other side of enlightenment. While other networks have messed with HDTV for a decade, this is the real sign to the sports fan that there's no longer talk of this being a down-the-road thing.

Word of mouth - especially jaw-dropping mouths - might push sports-enriched HDTV production faster than anything networks or cable channels have offered with sitcoms or movies thus far.

Even those commoners without the HDTV home setup will see a marked improvement of the telecast, Drake said. ESPN's exclusive use of HDTV cameras, starting with the Sunday night telecast, and its 16x9 rectangular framing and 720-line format will be converted to the standard dimension of 4x3 (or 12x9, if you'd like to play with common denominators).

``The collateral effect is the actual image is so much better even if you can't see it in high definition,'' said Drake, noting ESPN will continue to use an 18-camera setup for these broadcasts.

The timing of ESPN HD's launch coincides with other HDTV initiatives for sports programming at other networks.

For the first time, CBS will do the third and final rounds of the Masters (April 12-13) in both analog and HDTV. The network calls it the largest HDTV production ever, using 42 HD cameras in the 1080-line resolution format.

NBA TV, the league's own 24-hour network launched in 1999 and available in about 18 million dish homes, announced it will do up to two more regular-season and up to seven playoff games on its HDTV channels (198 on DirecTV and 9425 on Dish Network).

Helping the NBA push is the fact Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban established the first HDNet channel on DirecTV and has passionately pushed for the evolution of the NBA TV high definition by co-producing games.

``To coin an old NBA phrase, it's fantastic,'' said Gregg Winik, NBA TV's executive vice president of programming. ``It's a `feel-the-vision' experience, something consumers don't appreciate until they see it. The NBA has always been driving new technology, back to when (commissioner) David Stern put games on cable in the early '80s. We should be at the forefront, and we are.''

While all this is going on, Fox has been experimenting with a not-quite- HDTV technology called SDTV, which uses 480 lines and includes digital Dolby audio. The network has done recent Super Bowls, World Series and NASCAR events in this format. For the short term, industry people have called Fox's approach a better business decision since most HDTV broadcasts won't be profitable for the coming years.

``We're always in the process of looking at HD options, whether it be a separate channel or a sports-exclusive channel,'' Fox's Lou D'Ermilio said. ``This is a great learning experience for us, and it's very top of mind.''

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By Tom Hoffarth