To: Ian deSouza who wrote (28370 ) 1/22/1998 3:24:00 PM From: John Rieman Respond to of 50808
More Comark....................................ijumpstart.com COMARK'S DIGITAL SERVICES UNIT HOPES TO MINE CLIENT BASE <Picture><Picture><Picture> Comark Communications president Navroze S. Mehta told VTN that anyone who is a current customer is "a natural" to make a deal with the recently launched Comark Digital Services (CDS) team, which is celebrating a new partnership with PBS to jointly develop strategies to implement DTV and HDTV at member stations. One steady buyer of Comark transmitters has been LIN Television [LNTV]. Of a possible arrangement to provide HDTV advocate LIN with DTV expertise and equipment, Mehta said, "We are anticipating that a relationship will form as part of our family of services that we have made available to them." Is a deal in the works? "We don't have an agreement between CDS and LIN, per say, but if those services are offered to them, I'm sure they'll avail themselves of it," Mehta said. The broadcaster's president and CEO, Gary Chapman, is rabidly bullish on HDTV, according to LIN executives, and Comark will assist them in the high-definition transmission of a Texas Rangers baseball game in March. Mehta conceded LIN's moves into the HDTV arena may be expensive at this stage, but said the broadcaster is smart to invest in the new medium. "They want to be a leader, they have always been a leader, and are willing to step up early and show that. I think they should be commended," he said. And the Comark chief expressed his own desire to step up to the plate and swing hard for HDTV, too. "From an equipment and services perspective, we support both HDTV and multicasting, because we have to," he said. "But HD is important, and we are glad to be a part of it."