As the wars to control the emerging digital television industry hot up between the personal computer and television companies, the so-called Digital TV Team led by Compaq Computer Corp, Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp has won a further supporter, in the shape of Lucent Technologies Inc’s Microelectronics Group. The DTV Team wants to establish standards for digital television formats, and to stimulate consumer interest in digital television. However, earlier in the year, it received a less than enthusiastic hearing from the television industry, which seems to be supporting the proposals of the Grand Alliance of television manufacturers, chief among which is Sony Corp (CI No 3,137). Continued opposition from the television industry would obviously be detrimental to the Team’s ambitions. Lucent has spent some considerable time working on MPEG digital compression and other high-definition television work under the High-Definition TV Grand Alliance, and may therefore help to bridge the two technology formats. Last year, Lucent and Mitsubishi announced they were jointly developing high-definition television receiver chips and MPEG encoders for the broadcast market (CI No 2,944). Lucent also brings its expertise in encoders, receivers and integrated circuits for linking personal computers to digital networks to the piece. The company’s microelectronics group is developing a DTV receiver reference design compatible with the DTV Team’s proposals. It will be deployable over terrestrial, cable and eventually satellite broadcast receivers.
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