More on Canes-HD issue, Dish

First off, there's a chance Fox Sports Carolinas may televise a game or two of the Carolina Hurricanes' first-round playoff series in high definition after all. Canes fans weren't exactly thrilled to see that Game 1 at New Jersey, a 4-1 loss Wednesday night, was not shown in HD, and the regional sports network is seeing what it can do. In fact, none of the games in this Eastern Conference series was scheduled to be broadcast in HD.

The reasons are largely technological, including equipment. FS Carolinas has access to two HD trucks, which cost millions to build. They aren't enough to show all of the games on Fox Sports' 30 networks nationwide in HD. Fox Sports makes the call on where to send them. It also costs more to televise a game in HD, and Fox Sports has to deal with bandwidth capacity limitations on its HD telecasts.

The Hurricanes, who are in the first year of a five-year deal with FS Carolinas, were shown 15 times in high definition out of 65 televised games during the regular season. Next season, 30 or more Canes games might be aired in HD. No word on whether additional playoff games this year will be available on HD if the Hurricanes advance.

In general, the team is satisfied with its television deal, said Kyle Hanlin, the Canes' broadcast coordinator.

"They're making the investment in our product as they see fit," Hanlin said. "We'd obviously like to see every game in high definition, but they're our business partner and we understand they have to make decisions, too."

Hanlin said he's gotten a lot of e-mail messages about the HD issue, as well as Dish Network surprising some subscribers by showing Wednesday's game on channel 475. (The satellite TV company usually uses 444 to 452 as its alternate channels for Canes games, depending on how much content Fox Sports airs. Dish says Game 2 will be shown on channel 449. As usual, DirecTV will show the game on alternate channel 645. Time Warner Cable will have it on channel 50.