Group Project Outlines

G. The FCC and High Definition TV

X-Sender: mmuzik@pop.mindspring.com Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 23:41:36 To: ps25@prism.gatech.edu From: mike muzik mmuzik@mindspring.com Subject: Group Project Outline Cc: gt1407a@prism.gatech.edu, gt4574e@prism.gatech.edu, gt7675b@prism.gatech.edu, gt6455a@prism.gatech.edu

Project Title: The FCC and High Definition TV

Team Members:

Bor-Long Bai, MS-IE, gt1407a@prism.gatech.edu
Mike Muzik, MS-MGT, gt4574e@prism.gatech.edu (primary contact)
Tawana Sherard, PhD-CHEM, gt7675b@prism.gatech.edu
Don Upton, PhD-ME, gt6455a@prism.gatech.edu

Topic Description:

Perhaps few other emerging technologies have been shaped as much by a government entity as has High Definition TV (HDTV). The FCC through a series of rulings and or lack of rulings has had a profound effect on what was, what is, and what will be HDTV. The FCC’s influence on the development of HDTV is in large part due to the enormous size of the consumer market in the U.S. versus the rest of the world.

This project will take a timeline approach to the impact of FCC rulings and decisions on the development of HDTV. The major turning points in decisions/rulings by the FCC will be examined for their impact on governments, corporations, consumers, and related technological developments for both complementary and competitive products.

Project Outline:

The origins of HDTV and early rulings by the FCC.
-technological background information

The FCC rulings on analog versus digital HDTV
-impact on Japanese and European Research
-effect on General Instrument
-creation of the Grand Alliance

The FCC wavering on compatibility with NTSC broadcasts
-impact on manufacturers
-costs to be born by consumers
-expense to broadcasters

The FCC decisions on standards for HDTV
-compatability with PC video
-effect on MPEG,MPEG-2 standards
-effect on computer and HDTV manufacturers
-effect on marketplace and retailers

The FCC rulings on HDTV licenses
-costs to broadcasters
-government self interest to balance the budget
-funding for PBS from license sales
-effect on Congress

Methods for gathering Project Data:

The primary focus in obtaining information for this project will be a literature review with follow-up analysis of current books and the consumer marketplace as needed to fill in gaps in the information obtained from a literature review.

An initial literature review has yielded a wide variety of articles on the FCC and HDTV from the popular press, technical journals, newspapers, and a couple of books. A sampling of the articles found so far include:

· “Who Needs HDTV?”, Technology Review, Vol 92 No 4, May 1989, pg 20.
· “Taking Consumer Pulse of HDTV”, Broadcasting & Cable, Vol 127 No 21, May 19, 1997, pg 58.
· “The U.S. HDTV Standard”, IEEE Spectrum, April 1995, pp36-45.
· Josef, Bernard, “High Definition TV”, Radio-Electronics, August 1987.
· Yang, B.L. Bai, and S.C. Shaih, “An efficient Two-Dimensional Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform Algorithm for HDTV Receivers”, IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Vol 5 No 1, February 1995, pp25-30.
· Taylor, Dennis, “Clearly HDTV will be pricey.” Business Journal Serving San Jose & Silicon Valley, Vol 14, April 21,1997, pp1.
· Robertson, Jack “FCC establishes nine-year HDTV transition”,Electronic Buyer’s News, April 7,1997, pg 6.
· Condon, Bernard, and Fondiller, David S., “Prescient Prognosis”, Forbes, Vol 159 No 8, April 21, 1997, pg 16.
· Cook, William J., “HDTV unplugged”, US News & World Report, Vol 121 No 19, November 11, 1996, pg 54.
· Hundt, Reed E.,”Who should define HDTV?”, New York Times, September 13, 1997, sect 1, pg 23.
· Macinnes, Ian, “A model for standard setting: High definition television”, Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol 12 No 4, pp 67-78.
· Brinkley, Joel, “Defining Vision - The Battle for the Future of Television”, December 1996.