Audio Video News

Television viewers in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area of Florida now have a real choice between their local cable system and direct broadcast satellite services. On February 21, <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">EchoStar Communications Corporation</A> announced that its <A HREF="http://www.dishnetwork.com/">DISH Network</A> had begun offering local WFTS-ABC (Channel 28), WTSP-CBS (Ch. 10), WFLA-NBC (Ch. 8), and WTVT-Fox (Ch. 13) by satellite television to 10 counties in the region.

In a unique collaboration, <A HREF="http://www.hp.com">Hewlett-Packard</A>, <A HREF="www.news.philips.com">Philips</A>, <A HREF="http://www.ricoh.com">Ricoh</A>, <A HREF="http://www.sony.co.jp">Sony</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.yamaha.com">Yamaha</A> took part in a demonstration at last week's CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany, intended to publicly reinforce their commitment to 4.7 Gigabyte DVD+RW technology. Thomson Multimedia also revealed its support of DVD+RW technology at CeBIT.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.sageinc.com/">Sage</A> (a supplier of digital display processors) and <A HREF="http://www.faroudja.com">Faroudja</A> (a developer of video processing technologies) announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Faroudja to merge into a wholly owned subsidiary of Sage in a stock-for-stock transaction. The stockholders of Faroudja will receive approximately 3.9 million shares of Sage common stock, valued at approximately $155 million. The transaction, which will be accounted for as a purchase by Sage, has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close in the quarter ending June 30, 2000, subject to approval by each company's shareholders.

Five 'transparent businesses' will emerge from a reorganization of <A HREF="http://www.philips.com/">Philips Electronics</A>' consumer electronics operations, the company announced in late February. "The new organization will allow the businesses to react more quickly to their distinct market conditions and will allow for more flexibility in the structure," a company press release stated.

According to new statistics released by the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA), manufacturer-to-dealer sales of video products in January grew by 8% over the first month of 1999 and totaled nearly 3.5 million units. Sales of DVD players, projection televisions, and camcorders were the major factors contributing to this growth, according to the trade organization.

Late last week, <A HREF="http://www.intel.com">Intel</A> and <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A> announced that they intend to collaborate in an effort to give consumers the ability to share electronic content between PCs and various consumer electronic devices, including home entertainment systems (digital televisions, set-top boxes), digital cameras, digital camcorders, and portable music players. Intel says that the effort is part of the companies' vision of the "e-Home" of the future, in which the Internet will be available throughout a range of devices.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.thebroadscreen.com">thebroadscreen.com</A> announced that it has laid all of the groundwork to begin MPEG-2 production of digital news and entertainment over what it terms "broadband Internet connections." The company says that the format will be dubbed iDVD (Internet Digital Video Disc), and is intended to be downloaded into the new DVD-RAM recorders or played live over cable and DSL connections.