Barry Willis

Can direct broadcast satellite services make good on their promises? Representatives of EchoStar and Hughes Electronics Corporation (owner of DirecTV) have promised federal lawmakers that if their merger is approved, they will roll out broadband digital services, retransmit local television signals, and generally saturate the nation with satellite television—all within three years.

The Supreme Court's recent announcement that it will review an extension of copyright terms enacted during the Clinton administration has won praise from the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A>.

Warren Lieberfarb, head of <A HREF="http://www.warnerhomevideo.com">Warner Home Video</A>, thinks Hollywood just doesn't get it when it comes to DVD. In his view, the film industry is making a big mistake by continuing to support the rental market when the real bucks are in sales.

With the advent of DVD, the death of videotape has been widely predicted. Standard VHS may be going the way of the dinosaur, but tape is re-emerging as a format for high definition movies. Some folks are even predicting that DVD may be relegated to a "mid-fi format."