University of Hawai'i sports are coming to high-definition television, it just won't be this year, people involved in the pay-per-view venture said.

UH announced the lineup for the seventh year of its pay-per-view with KFVE/KHNL and Oceanic Time Warner Cable today but said high definition is at least a year — and possibly two — away.

"It is on the horizon, just not this time around," said John McNamara, UH associate athletic director.

John Fink, KFVE/KHNL vice president and general manager, said, "We're looking at the possibility down the road. There's no question we will gravitate toward it but right now it is prohibitively expensive and we're just not prepared, at this point, to put everything into HD."

Norman Santos, Oceanic's vice president of operations, said approximately 17 per cent of Oceanic's 420,000 subscribers have HD capability and people in the industry say the number grows by about 2,000 a month. Oceanic's OC-16 will show high school football in HD this fall.

But KFVE/KHNL produces the UH games and Fink said, "We have to weigh the cost involved. We're in the process of putting in a whole new facility (on Waiakamilo Road), which is costing is multi-millions." Fink said adding the necessary HD capabilities would involve an outlay of approximately $2 million.

People in the industry said another concern may be a potential loss at the gate for UH once customers have to weigh the experience of HD and comfort of their living rooms versus getting in a car.

But UH athletic director Jim Donovan said, "I believe we are going to create an environment at the facility itself that people will want to be a part of."

Nate Smith, Oceanic president, has said it is no longer a case of "if" for HD on UH games, "but when."