Oh, Brother!

Could there be a more bizarre programming gaffe this year than TVNZ’s decision not to screen Band of Brothers in HD?

The good news is its HBO stablemate, The Pacific, will air in HD when it premieres here in April, only weeks after its March 10 launch in the US.

But given Band of Brothers already has played both on TV One and TV2, why not enhance its third or fourth run with its first HD broadcast in this market?

True, this airing is its first in widescreen – and TVNZ’s HD upscaling is excellent.

But if the network went to the trouble of sourcing a new, remastered, widescreen digital master for the current run, why not go a step further and seek it in HD, especially when there’s a paucity of HD programming on TV One over summer?

Moreover, why have a stake in TiVo, as TVNZ does, if you’re not driving take-up of the HD media device?

For a broadcaster that boasts of delivering content to every screen, it’s inconceivable that viewers with HD screens should be excluded from this strategy.

Band of Brothers airs 8.30pm Mondays and repeats post-10.30pm Sundays.