NASHVILLE PUBLIC TELEVISION’S BROADCAST FROM NEW SCHERMERHORN SYMPHONY CENTER ACHIEVES HIGHEST RATING ON PUBLIC TELEVISION

Nashville Public Television’s (NPT) live two-hour broadcast of the gala opening night from the new Kenneth Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville was the highest-rated public television program among metered markets on the night of Saturday, September 9. The program, titled One Symphony Place: A World Premiere Live from Music City, achieved a 3.7 rating and a 7 share, ranking NPT number one in public television viewing according to Nielson Media Research.

Opening night from the recently-completed $123.5 million structure featured works by Shostakovich, Barber and Mahler as well as a special world premiere, co-commissioned piece by the Nashville Symphony and Akustiks Inc., written by Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain. Leonard Slatkin served as symphony guest conductor and George Mabry as director of the Nashville Symphony chorus.

The event marked the first high definition television (HDTV) broadcast for NPT. Viewers were able to experience the HDTV broadcast on NPT’s digital simulcast channel available on Comcast Cable channel 240, Charter Cable channel 788 or on off-air digital receivers.

HDTV takes full advantage of all the benefits of digital television, which broadcasts by means of digital signals. HDTV provides viewers with unparalleled visual clarity with more than twice the resolution of standard television.