The NRSC-5 standard specifies no audio codec for iBiquity Digital’s in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital HD Radio, but is “sufficiently complete to serve as the basis” for FCC service rules, NAB told the Commission. The NAB’s reply comments again urged adoption of the National Radio System Committee (NRSC) specification.
In vowing Wed. to back Blu-ray with a slate of titles when hardware is available in 2006, Lions Gate made good on a pledge in its Aug. 10 first-quarter conference call to endorse one next-generation format over the other “perhaps within a week.”
Challenges abound in improving the reliability, ease of use and system support of CableCARD-ready devices in homes, representatives of CEA and 5 CE makers told the FCC’s Media Bureau in an Aug. 11 visit, according to an ex parte filing at the Commission. Executives from CEA, Hitachi, Pioneer, Sharp Labs, Sony and TTE were sent by the Cable Working Group of the CEA’s Video Div. board to emphasize the importance of CableCARDs in the “competitive availability” of digital cable products and in the DTV transition, the ex parte said. Despite “the good-faith efforts and cooperation extended by a number of cable operators and their vendors,” achieving “systematic and predictable support” among the “large variety of local cable systems” remains an unfulfilled goal, the CE delegates told the Commission, the filing said: “They emphasized the urgency of achieving high levels of consistency and reliability at this time, especially in light of the importance of the CableCARD as a potentially attractive feature for mid-size and smaller TV receivers bearing DTV tuners. Based on experience to date, they made the point that the most efficient way to assure systematic, reliable support for competitive devices is through common reliance by both cable operators’ set-top boxes and competitive devices on the same conditional access technologies.” Last March, the FCC extended the integration ban on digital cable set-tops by a year to July 2007 to give Comcast, Microsoft and Time Warner Cable time to develop a software-based conditional access system for navigation devices and a timetable for deploying it (CED March 18 p1). The FCC has set a Dec. 1 deadline for a cable industry progress report. By Oct. 1 and then every 90 days, the 6 largest cable operators also must file status reports at the Commission on CableCARD deployment and a timetable for deployment of multistream CableCARDs, as well as the progress of talks on a bi- directional “plug-&-play” agreement.
Sirius gave a 29.4% raise to Scott Greenstein, pres.- entertainment & sports, the firm disclosed in an 8- K report filed at the SEC. Under his amended contract, Greenstein -- the executive who landed Howard Stern -- will get a $700,000 annual base salary, up from $540,750, as reported in the most recent Sirius proxy statement filed at the SEC. He also got 462,222 restricted stock units and 1.25 million stock options, the filing said. Greenstein’s deal was extended 2 years to July 31, 2009. CFO David Frear’s contract also was amended, raising his annual base salary 28% to $450,000 from $351,488 and granting him 300,000 restricted stock units and 700,000 stock options, the filing said. Sirius extended Frear’s deal 2 years to July 31, 2008. Jim Meyer, pres.-sales & operations, got 48,067 restricted stock units, with no changes to a contract that expires April 16, 2006, according to the recent proxy. Under his agreement, Meyer earns an annual base salary of $540,750, plus options, the last 1.2 million of which vest April 15, 2007, or sooner if 2005 performance milestones are achieved, the proxy said. Meyer has agreed to stay on as a Sirius consultant for a year when his employment contract expires, the proxy said. Meyer is to get 300,000 more restricted stock units that will vest May 3, 2007, if he’s still a consultant then, the proxy said.
The FCC’s proposal to move up the DTV tuner mandate deadline to Dec. 31, 2006, (CED June 10 p1) doesn’t allow “for the engineering and production challenges entailed,” Panasonic told the Commission in reply comments last week. “It would provide at best barely 16 months if the decision were made today” to advance the deadline from the July 1, 2007, date now on the books, Panasonic said, echoing the replies of CEA, the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) and 2 other CE makers that also filed replies individually.
Pioneer said Wed. it sought to boost plasma TV’s share of the HD display business -- not react to declining share -- when it commissioned an IDC research study to debunk common plasma “myths” it said have tarnished the technology’s reputation.
NAB and MSTV agree with Motorola that speeding the remaining DTV tuner mandate deadline to “a couple of months” before the end of 2006 would have a far more “positive effect” than setting the deadline at Dec. 31, 2006, as the FCC urges, the broadcast groups told the Commission Wed. in reply comments. CE groups have urged the FCC to keep the deadline at July 1, 2007, but said they would accept moving up the date 4 months to March 1. Accepting the March 1 proposal by CEA and the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition “would be of little value,” NAB and MSTV said. A late-2006 deadline wouldn’t “unduly burden” CE makers and retailers, broadcasters argued, saying CE claims to the contrary have “no merit.” CE “will have well over a year to allocate financial, facilities, engineering and personnel resources to equipping small receivers and other television receiving equipment with DTV tuners,” NAB and MSTV said. They dismissed Philips complaints that to meet a late-2006 deadline it would have to “revisit” factory and personnel decisions already made, saying the CE maker offered no evidence that revisiting old decisions “would outweigh the many benefits of removing analog-only sets from the market.”
After just its first year, Blockbuster Online accounts for 20% of the online DVD rental market and its “core metrics” such as churn and customer satisfaction are “headed in absolutely the right direction,” CEO John Antioco told financial analysts Tues. in the company’s 2nd-quarter conference call.
Sony this month will launch a massive ad, promotional and consumer education campaign to run through the Feb. Super Bowl selling season, aimed at easing rampant DTV confusion among consumers, senior Sony executives told Consumer Electronics Daily.
Sirius has no independent knowledge of rumors that Howard Stern will be “taken off the air” in late Sept. by Infinity Bcstg., Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin told analysts Tues. in the company’s 2nd-quarter conference call. The comment was in response to analysts’ latest questions -- asked repeatedly of Sirius over the last year -- whether there was any prospect Stern would join Sirius sooner than his announced Jan. 2006 debut when his Infinity contract expires.