Examines how business and political considerations regarding digital and HD have shaped the available technology. Reviews how stations have accommodated shifting viewer expectations, budget challenges, and product availability. News operations have been forced by shifting viewer expectations, governmental requirements, and competitive pressures to accommodate a treadmill of technologies. All have faced moving to file-based newsgathering and production, mandated digital simulcasts, planning for HD production, and the inevitable full digital changeover. Popularity of flat panels with consumers has changed the question of local HD production from "if" to "when". Many stations are structuring their HD buildout in three phases – first HD from the studio and SD from the field, followed by field HD that is driven back to the station, and finally by full digitally-linked HD from the field.