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Sandor Hasznos of Denver, Colorado, purchased a television on July 31, and it was delivered last week. This might not seem like a big deal---unless you consider that this was the first HDTV officially sold in the US. The set, a <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A> PT-56WXF90, was the first one bought at <A HREF="http://www.ultimateelectronics.com">Ultimate Electronics</A> during an HDTV preview event that drew over 4000 digital-television enthusiasts.

A lawsuit filed Friday, July 31, in a Los Angeles US District Court could delay by many months <A HREF="http://www.seagram.com/">Seagram Ltd.</A>'s widely publicized takeover of <A HREF="http://www.polygram.com/">PolyGram NV</A>. The international mega-merger, valued at $10.4 billion, has ground to a halt because of a $100 million suit brought by <A HREF="http://www.image-entertainment.com/">Image Entertainment Inc.</A>, a video distributor based in Chatsworth, California.

The set-top box could eventually become the center of your attention, which is why several turf wars have broken out to win control over this part of the home-theater market. With DTV on the horizon, cable and satellite companies will be upgrading the services that feed your TV with some mix of standard and high-definition digital audio and video. And as movie distribution moves toward a pay-per-view future, the gateway to these services---the set-top box---will have more prominence in most home-theater systems.

On July 30, Thomson Multimedia announced a five-way agreement with a consortium of high-tech companies to produce its next generation of interactive TV software and hardware. <A HREF="http://microsoft.com/">Microsoft</A>, <A HREF="http://www.nec.co.jp/">NEC of Japan</A>, <A HREF="http://www.directv.com/">DirecTV</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.alcatel.com/">Alcatel SA</A> of France will each take a 7.5% stake in the company to start the new venture. The nation of France, which owns parent company Thomson SA, will hold the remaining 70% of Thomson stock.