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To: BillyG who wrote (33539)	6/1/1998 10:04:00 AM
From: Don Dorsey	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50808

Digital TV: New wave set to wash over border Canadian broadcasters risk being swamped Tony Atherton The Ottawa Citizen If the progress toward Canadian digital TV were to be expressed digitally, it would be: Broadcast Industry, 1; Federal Government, 0. That's the number of recommendations acted upon by the key players since the report of the digital TV task force seven months ago. It warned that conventional Canadian television could be swamped by the U.S. digital revolution if action was not taken quickly. The U.S. is proceeding with plans for a fall launch on all network affiliates in 10 major markets of digital TV, with its promise of high-definition, wide-screen pictures and computer compatibility. The technology will spread to 20 more U.S. cities by 2000. The first generation of digital TV sets will be sold (for about $8,000 each) in the U.S. and Canada this fall. Yet there has been no response from the Canadian government since its digital TV task force submitted sweeping recommendations and a schedule for switching to the versatile technology. This would see the first broadcast of digital TV in Canada by 1999 and a national launch by 2004. However, this month the broadcast industry went ahead with one of the key task force recommendations, the formation of a pan-industry organization to provide research and signal testing, co-ordinate the digital launch, and advise the government on policy. The new Canadian Digital Television Inc., supported by broadcasters, cable companies, program producers and satellite operators, has appointed former task-force chair Michael McEwen as its president. The formation of CDTV puts the ball in the government's court, McEwen says. "I think they're seized with the issue now." Time is of the essence, he says. While the American breakneck timetable for implementing digital still may go off track, the Canadian industry has to be prepared to meet the inevitable onslaught of border-hopping high-definition television signals. Canadian broadcasters must offer similar quality or lose viewers. "If we didn't have some (response from the government) by the fall, I would start having concerns," McEwen says. Not to fall too far behind "you've got to start creating that envelope now. And we've got to start co-ordinating all the players." The industry is waiting to hear, for instance, how the government plans to allocate digital bandwidth. One question is whether it will provide digital-signal space automatically to every conventional broadcaster, as the U.S. has done, or look to some other means of distribution. The government also must respond to the task force's recommendations for subsidies to assist the industry in making the switch. One recommendation urged the government immediately to create a $50-million-a-year digital TV programming fund. This would be used to help producers and broadcasters create programming for wide-screen, high definition TV. The programming needn't be produced in HD video; programs made on 35mm film would be suitable for conversion to high-definition TV, McEwen points out. Eighty per cent of the U.S. networks' prime time schedule is already produced on 35mm film, providing a ready library of HDTV-compatible programming, McEwan adds. In Canada, where lower-cost 16mm film is widely used for major drama productions and conventional video for everything else, producers need help to switch to programming that is HDTV-friendly. Even within the Canadian industry there is resistance to the switch to digital, McEwan admits. Cable companies don't have enough capacity to carry all the existing conventional signals as it is. And they're worried about how they'll manage, if they must carry conventional and digital signals during whatever time the government allows for the transition to digital TV. And broadcasters worry about the cost of converting to digital transmission. But, says McEwen, "with the Americans going ahead, there's a certain inevitability to this. So, then, the issue is not whether it's coming, but how can we effectively manage this?" Even though viewers in Windsor will have access to U.S. digital TV by the year's end, "I don't think any of us are worried about the bleed-over in the first year or two," McEwen says. "If an early adopter wants to buy a digital television set so they can watch the Super Bowl in high definition, good on them. "But we're not worried about those eyeballs until the year 2000, when the American penetration, according to its timetable, will start to increase, and the cost of (digital) sets will start to drop. Then it becomes a more attractive proposition. And I think that (Canada) should be strategically positioned." ottawacitizen.com

To: BillyG who wrote (33539)	6/1/1998 5:55:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Japan setting up Digital Video services companies.......................................... biz.yahoo.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday June 1, 3:18 am Eastern Time TV Asahi,others to spend Y25bln on digital TV firm TOKYO, June 1 (Reuters) - Japan's Asahi Broadcasting Corp (TV Asahi) (9405.OS) said on Monday it and 41 other companies would invest 25 billion yen to set up a digital satellite broadcast service company in October. Participants in the new company include trading houses Marubeni , Tomen Corp and Sumitomo Corp , TV Asahi said in a statement. Marubeni said it would take a 15 percent stake in the company. TV Asahi said it expects the company to begin service in 2000, when Japan will switch its analogue satellite service to digital. In May, Nippon Television Network Corp (NTV) and TV Tokyo formed affiliates to seek licences for digital satellite channels. Analysts say the digital satellite channels will loom as the biggest competitors to two multi-channel pay-TV broadcasters, Sky PerfecTV and DirecTV.

To: BillyG who wrote (33539)	6/1/1998 7:17:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Just another DVD game, but it's bundled with Apple's DVD equiped PCs.................................... user17.promise.com The PC version of the next installment in the epic time travel series is completely enhanced for DVD, including over thirty minutes of MPEG-2 cinematics. The game has also been directly ported to the Macintosh DVD platform and is now being bundled with Apple's G3 Series DVD computers sold through the online Apple Store. The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time DVD was unveiled publicly during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) in Atlanta last week. "We're extremely proud to be bringing The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time DVD to both the PC and Macintosh markets," said Ken Goldstein, Broderbund's vice president of entertainment and general manager of Red Orb Entertainment. "Our OEM partnership with Apple presents an outstanding opportunity and we are currently working with other leading industry partners with whom we met at E3 to pursue holiday OEM promotions for The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time on Windows 95/85-based DVD-ROM." The PC version of The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time DVD, developed in conjunction with Presto Studios, has been significantly enhanced for the DVD platform. The more than four gigabytes of space on a DVD-ROM means that the entire game can be contained on one disk instead of the four CD-ROMs required previously. With no interruptions in the flow of gameplay to swap disks, the player stays immersed in the compelling story. The larger storage space of a DVD also allows for better visual quality. All of the QuickTime walk cycle and object animation movies in The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time PC version have been recompressed at a higher data rate. Because these movies have not been compressed to the extent they are on a CD-ROM, the movies on a DVD-ROM have a higher quality image. The PC version of The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time DVD will also feature over thirty minutes of cinematics encoded to MPEG-2 video and AC-3(tm) audio standards. MPEG-2 video is the highest quality digital video available, the same quality used by satellite cable services. The MPEG-2 encoding was provided by Digital OutPost. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., Digital OutPost's long history of quality and innovation allows the company to offer superior DVD, MPEG-2 and QuickTime encoding services. Digital OutPost can be found on the Web at digitaloutpost.com. The first entertainment software title to be produced for Apple Macintosh DVD, the Macintosh version of The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time is a direct port of the CD-ROM game. Apple is including the title with its state-of-the-art G3 Series computers purchased through the innovative online Apple Store. The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time DVD is being featured in several of Apple's current advertising campaigns for G3 Series computers. "The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time is a great title that pushes the envelope in multimedia entertainment, so it's fitting that this is the first entertainment DVD title for Macintosh," said Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple Computer.