Days of our Lives will begin broadcasting in high-definition this fall. The move will make it the fourth daytime drama series to broadcast in HD.

The decision to renovate the Days of our Lives studio and make it HD-ready is seen as a vote of confidence for NBC's sole remaining soap -- especially since it won't be cheap to make the upgrades. The transition, a setside source reveals, is expected to cost "seven figures."

According to Multichannel News, the switch to high-definition will coincide with Days of our Lives' 45th anniversary and allow DAYS to "deliver a contemporary show with the most up-to-date look."

In June 2001, CBS's The Young and the Restless became the first soap to broadcast in high-definition. It took another eight years before another soap -- ABC's General Hospital -- made the transition to HD. According to reports at the time, ABC spent upwards of $3,000,000 to upgrade General Hospital's studio to allow for HD production. Earlier this year, All My Children became the third soap to broadcast in high-definition. The HD transition was facilitated by the ABC soap's relocation from New York to Los Angeles, and a studio that was already wired and ready for high-definition production.

The other two remaining soaps, ABC's One Life to Live and CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful, do not broadcast in high-definition. While there are reportedly no plans to upgrade B&B, ABC has been attempting to secure capital investment for OLTL's transition to high-definition. While there is no definitive date for a OLTL transition to HD, Broadcasting and Cable reports that show producers will start shooting episodes in the 16x9 format for December airing. One Life to Live was to begin broadcasting in HD when it moved to its new studio space earlier this year, but Soap Central learned exclusively that those plans were put on hold because of the economy.

Look for Days of our Lives' first high-definition episode to be broadcast on Monday, November 8.