Interesting peripheral article , things are warming up...................
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<Picture>Harris eyes billions in digital TV
MELBOURNE, Fla. (CBS.MW) -- Angling to cash in on a new era of television, digital TV manufacturer Harris Corp. expects the emergent product line to generate $3 billion in revenue by 2006.
This year, the Melbourne, Fla.-based company sees double-digit sales growth as the networks turn to Harris and others to supply equipment for the advent of digital broadcasting.
Harris' stock price, now trading in the low 50s, has risen by about 20 percent since January, up from the low 40s last month.
ÿHRS
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"Harris is critically positioned to outflank the competition," said Jonathan Thompson, spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association. "They've raised the bar."
Sales of broadcast equipment for radio and TV was a $250 million business for the company last year. Chief executive Phillip Farmer expects that number to double by 1999 as the company rolls out its digital TV products.
Industry experts say Harris is poised to grab a leading share in the estimated $6 billion to $7 billion market for digital and high-definition TV transmitters, antennas, studio systems, and remote broadcast vans.
Indeed, Farmer himself expects to corner at least a 50 percent share of that market by beating out its main competitor, Comark Communications, a unit of the French electronics giant Thomson.
What began as a gamble on new technology some 10 years ago is finally paying off for Farmer, recognized as an industry leader in digital TV.
ÿ"I had to work to shake that group up."
Phillip Farmer
Harris Corp.
Harris' 1997 sales totaled $3.8 billion, with revenues also coming from semiconductors, defense contracts and office equipment.
One broadcasting format of digital television is high-definition TV. Digital TV equipment can also broadcast in the traditional band as well. Broadcasters currently may transmit in HDTV for major sporting events and prime time shows, but daytime TV would have more channels on the old format.
Farmer said he had to overcome resistance from an industry that had grown accustomed to life in the equipment replacement business.
"I had to work to shake that group up," Farmer said. Change, he added, had to come from outside and inside the company.
Farmer lured Bruce Allan away from Thomson's RCA division to be general manager of Harris' broadcast division.
Harris has won commitments from CBS, Walt Disney-owned ABC, The Tribune Co., and News Corp.'s Fox. Harris has also supplied six of the seven experimental digital TV stations now up and running.
A question in the industry remains is how Harris can execute its orders with its customers, Thompson said.
Farmer said the company is adding capacity at its plants in Quincy, Ill., and Cambridge, England, to handle increased demand for digital TV equipment. Harris is also equipped to serve the European standards for digital broadcasting through the purchase of Itis last year. |
