After years of waiting, Southwest Florida cable television viewers are now able to watch the Fox network and its local affiliate, WFTX-TV Fox4, in the ultra-crisp high definition format. The region’s primary cable service — Comcast Cable of Southwest Florida — began broadcasting Fox4’s HD signal Friday afternoon.

Besides viewers who want to watch the Fox network’s primetime lineup in HD, Friday’s announcement is especially good news for area sports fans. This evening, they will be able to watch Game 1 of the World Series in HD.

“I can’t tell you how tickled I am,” said Judy Kenney, Fox4’s general manager. “We are popping champagne corks around here. This is great.”

Comcast and WFTX’s parent company, Journal Broadcast Group, have been in negotiations since Journal bought Fox4 at the beginning of 2006.

“I arrived in December and one of the first calls I made in the community was to Comcast to see if we could get the HD format up on (their) system,” Kenney said.

While cable companies are required to offer a television station’s primary signal, so far there is no mandate that they carry additional signals, which include HD signals. That’s why the two companies had to come up with a deal.

While specifics aren’t being released, the paperwork was signed at approximately 2 p.m. Friday afternoon. With the flip of a few switches, Fox4’s HD signal appeared on area television sets by 3 p.m. Viewers with Comcast’s HD tier will find the Fox4 on channel 234.

“I’m going in (the TV room) right now to check,” said Charles LeBuff, when he heard the news. The south Fort Myers man has had an HD television set for four years, and the lack of Fox4 in HD has been an annoyance for this sports fan.

“I’ve been sort of chomping at the bit for at least two years,” said LeBuff, 70. “I was hoping the last World Series would be aired in HD and it wasn’t. I was getting frustrated.”

Will he be tuning in now that he can see the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals face off in high definition?

“You better believe it — every game,” he said.

Fox4’s HD signal has been available over the air for some time now, but because many, if not most, HD television viewers receive cable, that lack of carriage on Comcast created a public relations nightmare for the companies involved.

Kenney says the station has been besieged with letters and phone calls all year. The status of Fox4 on cable was the most frequent question sent to The News-Press’ “Media Matters” columnist.

Since Comcast absorbed local Time Warner cable customers this summer, the company now covers nearly every square inch of Southwest Florida, except for a few isolated pockets served by other cable companies.

“This has made him a happy man,” said Jean LeBuff, as she went off to check out the new Fox4 signal with her HD fanatic husband.

— Chris Wadsworth writes the Media Matters column that appears in The News-Press Lifestyles section every Thursday.

Thanks for the update Fatal.

Angel