Audio Video News

Power struggles among media companies can erode public and regulatory trust in the cable industry, <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> chairman William Kennard warned attendees at the <A HREF="http://www.ncta.org/">National Cable Television Association</A>'s annual convention in New Orleans last week. Kennard referred specifically to the recent squabble between Disney Corporation and Time Warner, which led to a blackout of Disney's ABC network in key markets earlier this month. Such actions call into question the ability of the industry to police itself, Kennard told cable executives.

The <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> has approved the merger of media conglomerate <A HREF="http://www.viacom.com/">Viacom Inc.</A> and <A HREF="http://www.cbs.com/">CBS Corporation</A>, one of the "Big Three" television networks. Viacom will acquire CBS in a stock swap; the resulting entity will have one year to unload enough stations to bring it into compliance with regulations limiting its share of the television viewing audience to 35% of the total market. Stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas&ndash;Ft. Worth, Baltimore, and Sacramento may be sold to comply with the restriction. The approval was granted Tuesday, May 2.

R<I>obert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Allan Hubbard, Wilford Brimley, Ellen Barkin. Directed by Bruce Beresford. Aspect ratios: 1.85:1 (widescreen), 16:9 (anamorphic). Dolby 2.0. 92 minutes. 1983. Republic Pictures/Artisan 11191. PG. $24.95.</I>

Bigger is better, according to <A HREF="http://www.hitachi.com/">Hitachi</A>. The Japanese manufacturing giant has announced a 65"-diagonal rear-projection HDTV, its display illuminated by a <A HREF="http://www.ti.com/">Texas Instruments</A> digital light processing (DLP) unit with 8" optics. DLP technology creates a high-definition image using almost one million micromirrors on a chip to switch red, green, and blue light to form an image. When incorporated into a television with an HDTV receiver, display of both HDTV and high-resolution computer graphics is possible without any of the normal compromises found in traditional display technology.

When the retransmission of local TV signals by direct satellite broadcasters became legal, analysts and industry insiders expected an increase in business. They did not expect the surge in new subscribers that came in the wake of the decision. <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">EchoStar</A>, the perpetual runner-up to dominant DBSer <A HREF="http://www.directv.com/">DirecTV</A>, added 455,000 new subscribers to its DISH network in the first quarter of this year, bringing its total customer base to more than 4 million as of the end of April.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.co.jp/">Matsushita Electric Industrial</A> and <A HREF="http://www.quantum.com">Quantum Corporation</A>'s Hard Disk Drive Group announced that they have developed what they describe as the world's first audio/video hard-drive subsystem that records and plays back digital content with random-access digital video recording (DVR) functionality over IEEE1394 (aka FireWire).

As many as 12 recent releases from <A HREF="http://www.miramax.com/">Miramax Films</A> will be streamed over the Internet in the coming months, the Walt Disney Company&ndash;owned studio announced April 19. Among the offerings will be 1998 Oscar winner <I>Shakespeare in Love</I>, which will be transmitted using encryption technology from <A HREF="http://www.sightsound.com/">SightSound</A>, a company that has been renting films at its site for the past year, and that recently launched an Initial Public Offering of its stock.