Audio Video News

Cable companies have found themselves under assault from the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) forces for several years now, and they face new potential competition from local phone companies' digital subscriber line (DSL) systems. As a result, they have begun to circle their wagons in an attempt to ward off further damage.

Entertainment-industry executives should sleep better thanks to a recent announcement from <A HREF="http://www.sony.com/">Sony Corporation</A>. On November 30, Sony announced it has developed robust, multilevel copy protection for the emerging IEEE 1394 interconnect standard, which represents an escalation in the technological war against poachers of intellectual property.

The digital-television media bombardment has been a case study in contrasts. Some optimistic reports predict that most households will be DTV-equipped within 10 years, while others cite turf battles between broadcasters, the FCC, and various computer and electronics manufacturers as evidence of the minefield stretching out ahead. A study released this month by <A HREF="http://www.pwcglobal.com">PricewaterhouseCoopers</A> reports that industry executives are also painting dramatically different pictures of the digital future in 2009. In one, consumer technologies are seamlessly interconnected; in the other, television is stalled between analog and digital technology.

J<I>ames Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (letterbox). Dolby Digital 5.1. 128 minutes. 1958. Universal Home Video 20183. Rated PG. $34.98.</I>

Back in 1996, when Congress set the timetable for digital television, one of the provisions left open for later discussion was fees the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> (FCC) would levy on broadcasters who charged for new pay-TV programming. The deadline for converting to DTV was set to be the year 2006, but how much should the government be compensated for special content such as HDTV movies, stock quotes, or other fee-based services that a broadcaster might charge for?

Media giant <A HREF="http://www.cbs.com/">CBS</A> continues to push the high-definition envelope with the first-ever broadcast of a prime-time dramatic series in HDTV. "The Other Cheek," the episode of <I>Chicago Hope</I> that aired last Wednesday, November 18, was produced by 20th Century Fox Television in cooperation with <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony Electronics</A>' Broadcast and Professional Company using an extensive array of Sony's new HD equipment. It was relayed to 11 CBS affiliates, and it was available on the DirecTV satellite service. The program was broadcast in 1920x1080i, the highest-resolution version of HDTV.

Frank Biondi is making a very lucrative career of resigning from high-level positions. The former television executive and second-in-command at Viacom, Inc. has been forced out of the chairmanship at Universal Studios. The film-production company has not done well at the box office lately, a factor in the depressed stock price of its parent organization, Montreal-based Seagram, Ltd., which owns 80% of Universal. Former Hollywood talent agent and Creative Artists Agency co-founder Ron Meyer, who was Universal's president and chief operating officer, will take Biondi's place.