| Speaking
to the attendees in HDTV, Dolby Laboratories
president and CEO Bill Jasper and NBC TV Network
and Media Works president John Eck praised
the ATSC for its accomplishments and the importance
of its ongoing work.
Honours
were bestowed during the annual awards luncheon.
Plaques were presented to the 16 organizations
that have been 25-year participating members:
ABC, CBS, CEA, IEEE, MSTV, NAB, NBC, NCTA,
Panasonic, Philips, Sarnoff, SMPTE, Sony,
Tektronix, Thomson and Zenith. CBS senior
VP of technology Joseph Flaherty was recognised
for his 25 years on the ATSC Executive Committee
and Board of Directors. William Miller of
ABC was honored for his three years of service
as chairman of the ATSC Technology and Standards
Group.
A highlight of the luncheon awards ceremony was presentation of this year's Bernard
Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award to Michael Dolan. Founder and President
of Television Broadcast Technology, Dolan was recognized for his long service
to ATSC and his commitment to the development of high quality technical documents.
ATSC
president Mark Richer says, "He gives standards development and documentation
the attention and care that it requires. Mike has consistently demonstrated that
he cares deeply about helping to optimize our standards development process."
Among other things, Dolan was a key contributor
to the development of the ATSC's Data Broadcasting
suite of standards, including A/90; and
he co-authored the book Understanding the
ATSC Data Broadcasting
Standard (McGraw-Hill, 2001).
Morning and afternoon panels featured industry
experts on a range of topics of keen interest
to digital television stakeholders -- discussions
commemorating the ATSC's Silver Anniversary,
the organisation's work over the years,
and the ongoing activities focused on the
future of DTV.
One panel was called HDTV, We've Come a Long Way. This addresses HDTV's
major progress since the 1980s. The Perspectives" panel, discussed the final
phase of the US' DTV transition.
"ATSC Strategic Plan: Where are
We? looked at the work under way on
next-generation standards, including broadcasting
to mobile and handheld receivers, file-based
content delivery for on-demand consumer
viewing and new capabilities for the next
generation of large screen HDTV receivers.
Richer
adds, "Twenty-five years after our
first meeting, we are leading the effort
to develop standards essential to the future
of broadcasting. We are focussed on the
development of standards that will enable
mobile and handheld service (ATSC-M/H),
non-real-time programme delivery (ATSC-NRT)
and
the next generation of services
for fixed receivers (ATSC 2.0)."
The
Advanced Television Systems Committee is
an international, non-profit organisation
developing voluntary standards for digital
television. The ATSC member organisations
represent the broadcast, broadcast equipment,
motion picture, consumer electronics, computer,
cable, satellite, and semiconductor industries.
ATSC creates and fosters implementation
of voluntary Standards and Recommended Practices
to advance terrestrial digital television
broadcasting, and to facilitate interoperability
with other media.
ATSC-M/H is being developed to support a
variety of services including free (advertiser-supported)
television and interactive services delivered
in real-time, subscription-based TV, and
Non-real-time content download for playback
at a later time. The standard may also be
used for transmission of new data broadcasting
services such as real-time navigation data
for in-vehicle use.
ATSC-NRT addresses the new reality that
consumers are increasingly in control and
want information and entertainment content,
when and where they want it. By leveraging
the low cost of storage in receivers, broadcasters
utilizing the ATSC-NRT Standard will be
able download content to a new generation
of products.
ATSC-2.0 will define a complete suite of Next Generation services for the conventional
fixed DTV receiver viewing environment. | 
