Put <A HREF="http://www.dreamworks.com/">DreamWorks SKG</A> and Imagine Entertainment together and what do you have? <A HREF="http://www.pop.com/">POP.com</A>, a joint effort by the two of the film industry's most innovative and highly regarded companies. On Monday, October 25, film director Steven Spielberg (<I>Saving Private Ryan</I>), actor/producer/director Ron Howard (<I>Apollo 13</I>), and their associates announced a new joint venture to bring professionally produced short videos to the Internet. The videos will incorporate both live action and animation, with an emphasis on comedy.
Want to own a piece of the studio that produced <I>Saving Private Ryan</I>? If you're a big player, you may soon have a chance to do so—through your broker. <A HREF="http://www.dreamworks.com/">DreamWorks SKG</A>, the entertainment combine founded by Stephen Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, wants to raise $525 million through the sale of debt securities. The infusion of cash will be used to refinance old debts as well as to fund new productions, and will be repaid by worldwide box-office receipts, and video revenues from movies already in inventory or as yet unmade.
<A HREF="http://www.dts.com">Digital Theater Systems Inc</A> hopes to get a financial boost through an initial public offering of stock to take place later this year.
Soon, <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com">Dolby</A> won't be the only option for surround-sound processing in digital television broadcasting. <A HREF="http://www.dtsonline.com">Digital Theater Systems</A> (DTS) will also have a place in the format, thanks to a recent agreement with the <A HREF="http://www.dvb.org">Digital Video Broadcasting project</A>. The DVB is a technical consortium of more than 300 companies, established to create common international specifications for the transition from analog to digital broadcasting.
What's in a name? If it's a "Digital Television," no one has been quite sure, and the resulting confusion over basic nomenclature has been one of many factors inhibiting market acceptance of the new format. Now, the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) has decided that clear definitions are needed to cut through the fog.
The market for advanced television equipment is growing, thanks to the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A>'s digital TV mandate. But the changeover will be slow. According to a study conducted by research and consulting firm <A HREF="http://www.frost.com/">Frost & Sullivan</A>, industrial users of television equipment are likely to opt for converting their existing gear rather than replacing it during the transition, and they will move to software solutions for their production and editing needs.
In a move that bodes well for the rollout of digital television, if not specifically for manufacturers' bottom lines, discount chain Wal-Mart has announced that it is jumping into the DTV market.
Five and one half years after the formation of digital television's Grand Alliance, the resulting technology has been honored with an <A HREF="http://www.rdmag.com/"><I>R&D Magazine</I></A> 100 Award as one of this year's most important new developments. "The key criterion of winning this award is technological significance," said the publication's Editor-in-Chief, Tim Studt. "This new DTV standard will change the quality and nature of television. It offers vastly increased visual impact, broader programming options, and the ability to use TV as an information appliance instead of just for passive entertainment."
The cable industry continues to be the major obstacle to expanding the market for digital television (DTV). That's the view of the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/">Consumer Electronics Association</A>, which in June asked the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov">Federal Communications Commission</A> to consider instituting what it termed "a capacity-based dual or multicast cable carriage rule" to encourage the growth of the format.