Barry Willis

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Barry Willis  |  Oct 20, 2002

Set-top box (STB) maker Scientific-Atlanta reached its lowest stock price in almost four years on Friday, October 18, after posting quarterly results well below expectations. The company's stock closed at $11.45, a drop of 14%, making it one of the biggest losers on the New York Stock Exchange that day.

Barry Willis  |  Jul 21, 2002

The burgeoning market for digital television is being hindered by an increasing number of reports of radio-frequency interference from DTV transmitters. Although DTV is a "technology that is finally beginning to boom," according to a July 16 report from Reed Business Information, some broadcasters, in particular Paxson Communications, have complained about interference problems. Consumers who buy digital televisions are still disappointed by the skimpy high-definition programming offered by their local broadcasters. DTV's picture for the near future therefore remains unclear.

Barry Willis  |  Aug 11, 2002

Bowing to criticism from investors, <A HREF="http://www.cablevision.com">Cablevision Systems Corporation</A> announced August 8 that it would cut its capital expenditures by nearly half. The cable giant plans to reduce its staff by approximately 7%, sell its Clearview Cinema theater chain, and close 26 THE WIZ electronics stores. There are 59 Clearview theaters in the New York metropolitan area; most THE WIZ stores are also concentrated there.

Barry Willis  |  Jul 28, 2002

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell has replied to criticism from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) over FCC insistence that new television sets include digital tuners. The CEA has long maintained that digital tuners are superfluous additions in a market where most viewers use cable provider&ndash;supplied set-top boxes, and that cable compatibility problems and lack of HD programming were far bigger impediments to the digital television changeover. "What continues to be a mystery to us is why the cable industry's view on compatibility continues to be so different," said Thomson Multimedia spokesman Dave Arland.

Barry Willis  |  Aug 18, 2003  |  Published: Aug 19, 2003

The numbers are up for Littleton, CO-based <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com">EchoStar Communications</A>. The direct broadcast satellite service posted a $129 million profit on sales of $1.4 billion for the second quarter ended June 30. The company also added 270,000 new subscribers in the same period, for a total of 8.8 million subscribers.

Barry Willis  |  Mar 09, 2003

The US economy may be in the doldrums, but some entertainment providers are sailing along nicely.

Barry Willis  |  Mar 30, 2003

Digital TV is hot. Factory-to-dealer sales of DTV products jumped by 36% over the same period in 2002, with a total of 196,113 units shipped, according to figures released in late March by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

Barry Willis  |  Sep 22, 2002

On September 13, San Francisco-based Dolby Laboratories announced the availability of a new reference multichannel decoder, the <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com/products/DP564/">DP564</A>. The new tool is able to decode every Dolby&#174; consumer format, making it the "perfect solution for monitoring in DVD, digital TV broadcast, and postproduction applications," according to an official announcement. The DP564 debuted at the International Broadcasting Convention held September 13&ndash;17.

Barry Willis  |  Mar 23, 2003

The next generation of video projectors will be several magnitudes better than the best ones available now. A hint of things to come was unveiled by Sony Electronics earlier in March, with a public demonstration of its Silicon Crystal Reflective (SXRD) technology. At the heart of SXRD is a high-density fixed-pixel micro display generating over 2 million pixels (1920 x 1080 pixels) of picture data from a 0.78"-diagonal panel with a pixel pitch of 9mm each and an inter-pixel spacing of just 0.35mm.

Barry Willis  |  Sep 01, 2002

Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (<A HREF="http://www.cablelabs.com">"CableLabs"</A>) has issued a new set of specifications for high-definition-compatible set-top converter boxes. The Louisville, CO&ndash;based organization released its "Advanced Host and High Definition STB Host" specifications last week, describing requirements for retail set-top boxes that decode all formats of high definition signals used on digital cable plants. The specs are available to manufacturers, content developers, and the public through the <A HREF="http://www.opencable.com">OpenCable website</A>.

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