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To: BillyG who wrote (25030)	11/10/1997 3:50:00 PM
From: Stoctrash	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Money Talks Billy.... I'm sure they're gunna play catchup with them MPEG leaders...... Wonder if they'll try to cut a deal like IBM did with CUBE on DVx? DVx could be the standard "solve all" in your digital video arena. How's the travel Biz? Got any deals to the Caymen Islands from Toronto?

To: BillyG who wrote (25030)	11/10/1997 4:25:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

'The Future of Digital TV': Conference Sponsored by Columbia Institute for Tele-Information Date: Thursday, November 13, 1997 Location: Davis Auditorium Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research (CEPSR) About the Conference: Digital TV is beginning to cover the globe, reaching homes by satellite, terrestrial broadcast, cable, fiber, Internet and DVD. Traditional industries envision different technical scenarios. Strategies abound. This conference investigates the technical, business, and content implications of digital TV for companies, industries and society. It is organized into four parts: economics and finance, content and programming, technology, and international issues. * The new infrastructure required for digital TV as well as the increased costs for expanded content production must be financed. New distribution opportunities are emerging. What impact will digital TV have on industry structures and economies of scale? Will the proliferation of specialized narrowcast channels provide sufficiently large markets for TV programs and advertisers? * Digital TV enables interactivity which will change news, entertainment and education programs. Content is already being direct linked to shopping and transactions. Will digital TV change viewing habits? Will server-based TV increase the number of voices, or will major mainstream firms continue to dominate the market? * Over-the-air broadcast, optical fiber, Internet and server-based systems provided digital TV with various levels of support for interactivity. Interoperability issues need resolution. How will the computer industry's progressive scan approach to digital TV be reconciled with broadcast's interlaced scan? What additional technologies are needed to bring high quality video to the Internet? * Today DBS is providing interactive programs to a growing international audience. Will digital TV serve national culture segments of globally dispersed groups, with common interests and vocations? Will a single worldwide standard emerge or will digital TV technology accommodate multiple regional standards? Program: Time Scheduled Event 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. Registration 9:00 - 9:15 a.m. Opening Remarks Eli Noam, CITI 9:15 - 11:00 a.m. The Changing Economics of TV Industries How will the investment required for a new digital TV infrastructure and expanded content production be financed? What new distribution opportunities are emerging? How will the traditional advertiser supported broadcast model change? What is the impact of the new broadcast and satellite channels on cable distribution and video rental? How will video servers, affect video rental chains and traditional broadcasters? What will be cable's alternate strategies for bandwidth, new service offerings and pricing? Consolidation in both the cable and telephone industries, and vertical integration in the entertainment industry, have produced large companies with broad media scope. How will industry structure and economies of scale be affected by digital TV? Will the proliferation of specialized narrowcast channels offer sufficiently large TV markets? How will network affiliate relations be affected? What new financial support mechanisms will emerge? Will the release sequence of movies and syndicated programs change? Moderator: David Roddy, Chief Telecommunication Economist, Deloitte & Touche Papers: W. Russel Neuman, Professor of Communications, Annenberg School for Communications, U. of Pennsylvania What are Broadcast Networks likely to do with the additional spectrum allocated to them for digital TV and what is their obligation to society for the use of free bandwidth? David Waterman, Associate Professor, Department of Telecommunication, Indiana U. Does digital TV change the economics of the TV Industries? Richard Parker, Director and Senior Fellow, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Harvard U. What's the Role of Economics in the Race Toward Digital TV? Respondents: Francine Sommer, Gabelli Multimedia Edward Bleier, Warner Brothers 11:00 - 11:15 a.m. Coffee Break 11:15 - 1:00 p.m. Impact on Content and Programming Digital TV may significantly change the number and nature of programs. How will interactivity affect entertainment, news and education: If the Internet is the testbed for interactive TV, how will it influence future TV content? Will digital TV change viewing habits? Will it become a more active and social experience, or a more solitary computer TV viewing event? Will groups be targeted by focused programs and advertising? What will the effect be, on content production, of the opportunity to provide multiple language audio tracks? Will TV programs work with information on DVD and the web for news, shopping, and transactions? Will TV content be direct linked shopping and transactions? Will server-based TV increase the number of voices, or will major mainstream firms and their content dominate? Will local cable companies continue to serve as input points to media distribution? Moderator: John Redpath, Home Box Office, HBO Papers: John Carey, Director, Greystone Communication Interactive Services: Where Will Content Come From? Jessica Josephson, CEO, International Media Strategies Commercial Broadcast's Public Service obligations. Respondents: Robin Mudge, BBC Sue Treiman, ABC John Reed, Source Media, Inc. Gary Poon, PBS 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. Luncheon (Faculty House) Speaker: Richard Wiley, Attorney, Wiley, Rein & Fielding Public Interest Standards for Digital TV 2:15 - 4:00 p.m. Delivery Systems and Technology Issues Several systems for digital TV distribution are being deployed, including today's digital DBS and DVD. Delivery systems, including over-the-air broadcast, optical fiber, Internet and server-based systems can all provide digital TV with various levels of support for interactivity. How will interoperability issues for these delivery systems be resolved? Is an integration of some of these technologies likely to occur? Which suite of technologies is likely to prevail? Broadband loop technologies and cable modems promise increases in Internet access speeds. What additional technologies are needed to bring high quality video to the Internet? Will the computer industry's progressive scan approach to digital TV be reconciled with broadcast's interlaced scan? How will heterogeneous scan systems impact content providers and consumer electronics manufacturers? What improved forms of compression are on the horizon? Will advances in compression, cellular cable and low orbit satellite enable wireless digital TV? Moderator: William Schreiber, Professor of Electrical Engineering Emeritus, MIT Papers: Eugene Miller, Technical Director, Bell Atlantic, Science and Technology Television Systems Evolution A. Michael Noll, Professor, Annenberg School of Communications, U. of Southern California The Digital Mystique: A Review of Digital Technology and its Applications to Television. Respondent: Alvy Ray Smith, Graphics Fellow, Microsoft Mahesh Balakrishnan, Phillips Research 4:00 - 4:15 p.m. Afternoon Break 4:15 - 6:00 p.m. International Perspective Digital TV is a global phenomenon, but analog HDTV continues to be broadcast in Japan while the US and Europe are each developing their own digital TV broadcast standards. Will digital TV serve national culture segments of globally dispersed groups of common interests and vocations? Will digital TV increase content internationally? Will digital TV technology accommodate multiple regional standards or will a single standard emerge? What impact will DVD have on consumer electronics companies? Will the World Wide Web evolve to provide instantaneous global access to digital TV? Moderator: Rhonda Crane, AT&T Papers: Peter B. Seel, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Technical Communications, Colorado State U. Is there a transition path from HDTV to DTV in Japan? Jeffrey A. Hart, Professor, Dept. Political Science, Indiana U. International political issues raised by digital TV. Respondents: Wen Liao, Director Marketing Communications, The Fantastic Corporation Louis Bransford, Pres. and CEO, ESATEL Herbert Schiller, Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego Closing Remarks: Dr. Benjamin Barber, Director, The Walt Whitman Center, Rutgers University A critical response to the views and ideas presented at The Future of Digital TV conference from the perspective of public discourse, civil society and global communications. 6:00 p.m. Cocktails (Faculty House) Organized by: Eli Noam, Professor and Director Darcy Gerbarg, Research Fellow CONTACT: Register Online or Send Questions and Comments to: The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information Columbia Business School 809 Uris Hall New York, NY 10027-6902 Tel: 212-854-4222 Fax: 212-932-7816 Email: citi@research.gsb.columbia.edu SOURCE Columbia Institute for Tele-Information /PRNewswire -- Nov. 10/ /Web site: citi.columbia.edu /

To: BillyG who wrote (25030)	11/10/1997 5:17:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

The David Sarnoff Research Center used to be called RCA Labs. They invented TV. They also have a propriatary MPEG algorithm that they licence to LSI................................ June 30, 1997, Issue: 960 Section: Midyear Forecast: The Industry ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Constant Innovation Is Par For Course By George Leopold And Junko Yoshida Sarnoff Corp., formerly the venerable David Sarnoff Research Center, has been slowly reinventing itself over the last five years as it makes the transition from TV pioneer and contract research house to an incubator for new technologies and, its leaders hope, new companies. Sarnoff's transformation is physical as well as philosophical. Walking the corridors of the company's Princeton, N.J., offices, a visitor passes through successive sections of the campus first established in 1942 as RCA Laboratories by TV pioneer David Sarnoff. Executives said they are planning to expand their headquarters for the first time in decades, an expansion that reflects a growing entrepreneurial spirit. Marking its 10th anniversary as a for-profit R&D center (as a subsidiary of SRI International) in April, Sarnoff has been pursuing a strategy since the early 1990s of meshing its solid-state expertise with information technology to pursue opportunities in new fields like biomedicine. The thrust was a natural, executives said, since Sarnoff is literally surrounded by pharmaceutical and biomedical firms along Princeton's high-tech corridor. At the same time, Sarnoff has been pursuing an entrepreneurial strategy that has so far yielded eight spin-off companies. Initial public offerings are planned for some over the next year, and more spin-offs are in the works, according to Curtis Carlson, Sarnoff's No. 2 man and executive vice president for ventures and licensing. "We're moving Sarnoff up to the next level," Carlson said. Added James Carnes, Sarnoff's president and chief executive, "The objective is to take these companies public and generate an equity fund that will serve as Sarnoff's 'rainy-day fund.' " At the same time, he said, the new Sarnoff Corp. will become a "generator of new high-tech businesses." The rejuvenated Sarnoff is currently churning out about 100 patents a year, and the firm has set its sights on becoming a $1 billion company by 2005. Most of that growth is expected to come from technology spin-offs. Indeed, Carlson predicted as he rapidly diagramed the company's strategy on a board, "We'll do better than that." The first fruit of the incubator strategy is Orchid Biocomputer Inc. (Princeton), a developer of synthesis and screening instruments used mainly for drug discovery and development. Sarnoff teamed with pharmaceutical giant Smith-Kline Beecham in September 1995 to form Orchid to create what the partners call a drug-discovery lab on a chip. The size of a business card, the device will perform thousands of chemical experiments simultaneously, eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming tests. Sarnoff executives said the device could prove useful as the cost of developing new drugs continues to rise sharply. Among the other Sarnoff spin-offs are Sarif Inc. (Vancouver, Wash.), a manufacturer of liquid-crys-tal optical systems based on light-valve technology. Founded in 1994 by Sarnoff and display-industry veteran Steven Hix, the venture has access to Sarnoff's active-matrix LCD technology for projection and head-mounted display applications. Other Sarnoff-backed ventures focus on digital communications, video, computing, security and sensor technologies. Together, they allow Sarnoff researchers to take their ideas from the drawing board to the boardroom, giving them a shot at running their own companies and gaining a larger stake in Sarnoff's future success. Sarnoff's aim, said Carnes, is to "be an engine for generating intellectual property." Sarnoff puts its prospective entrepreneurs through a rigorous drill designed to find the most promising projects. The system requires product de-velopers to consider the market need for their wares, the benefits provided by the product and the state of global competition in their market niche. Lastly, they must convince a venture board that theirs is a unique approach. Successful proposals must survive a series of steps before they get Sarnoff's financial backing. The steps include gaining approval of a business plan, acceptance by a venture board and completion of a venture and licensing agreement. In exchange for backing, the agreements allow Sarnoff to retain the intellectual property the venture develops. Carlson said Sarnoff's entrepreneurs must focus on "hitting the $500 curve," the baseline target for making a product practical in the consumer market. "Sarnoff is in a position to help people fund that curve and develop technology," he said. The consumer market is, of course, where Sarnoff has made a name for itself as a developer of television-receiver technologies ranging from color sets to video-on-demand. It was intimately involved in the decade-long development of high-definition TV as a member of the U.S. HDTV Grand Alliance. Sarnoff engineers, led by Glenn Reitmeier, developed the packetization scheme for the U.S. digital-TV transmission standard the Federal Communi-cations Commission approved last December. With a standard in hand and the digital-TV marketing wars under way, Sarnoff is positioning itself to leverage its HDTV expertise to offer new products and services based on both video and computer technologies. Along with broadcasters, Reitmeier said Sarnoff is targeting cable, satellite and PC firms to deliver digital video. "Our vision is to work with everybody," he said. Among its technology offerings are real-time video processing, broadcast-quality MPEG compression, MPEG and direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) transport and modulation for terrestrial broadcast, cable and DBS. "It's not just the technology, it's the timing," said Reitmeier, who oversees Sarnoff's HDTV efforts. "We're in a pretty interesting position." Still, technology gaps remain in the drive to deliver digital video. Among them are content authoring, multiplexing data and video, compression, server technology and interfaces. Eventually, TV will get smarter and PCs will become more visual, Reitmeier predicted. "Convergence is going to be in the underlying technologies rather than in the products themselves." In the end, the melding of digital technology with television could yield benefits and markets that David Sarnoff never dreamed of. "TV will become a much richer medium in terms of delivering content," Reitmeier forecast. That is, if politics and self-serving interests don't get in the way. Copyright r 1997 CMP Media Inc. [New Search] [Search the Web] You can reach this article directly: techweb.com