***Computer, Film Groups Oppose HDTV Plan
by Rob Glidden

If you hail from the computer world, you may think of High Definition TV
as a "TV thing" that has little to do with computers and even less to do
with artistic creation.

Think again. Computer, film and cable groups have launched an impassioned
11th hour lobbying campaign to stall the FCC's upcoming final vote on the
Grand Alliance's HDTV plan. HDTV opponents hope to stop a government-
mandated digital TV standard altogether or win on the key technical
issues of progressive scan, variable aspect ratios and frame rate.

In particular, Microsoft (with the support of Intel, Apple, Compaq and
others) and the Director's Guild of America (think Steven Spielberg and a
herd of Hollywood names) have raised the stakes by becoming vocal critics
of the Grand Alliance, promising high-visibility lobbying campaigns aimed
squarely at election-year politics.

Opponents claim the HDTV plan is an already-obsolete technology that will
set back TV/computer interoperability by decades. Proponents claim it is
a "done deal" that reflects the best possible compromise between the
needs of different industries. Both sides are courting a broader range of
allies in consumer and ideological groups to add political weight to
their technical arguments and industry interests.

Some background:

Technical Issues

The technical battle lines have been drawn for years: progressive scan,
variable aspect ratios, and frame rate.

"Progressive scan" means eliminate the 4 interlaced formats from the 18
video formats in the Grand Alliance plan. Filmmakers claim progressive
scan offers much higher image quality. Computer monitors and data-types
are progressive scan. Opponents see continuing interlace as anywhere from
a bureaucratic disaster to a nefarious plan to milk interlace patents.

Aspect ratio. The Grand Alliance plan requires 4 x 3 and 16 x 9 image
ratio and point out that monitors have a fixed size and shape. But no
films are actually made in the 16 x 9 format (also known as 1.78) and
filmmakers favor a wider aspect ratio. For computer folk, a government-
mandated aspect ratio makes as much sense as a law banning 800x600
resolution images because they take up too much memory.

Frame rate. Setting the frame rate to 72 Hz would bring film and video
into synchronized frame rate ratios (24 is one third of 72), ending the
messy conversion between film and video. Having synced frame rates is
even more important for progressive scan.

Players

The long-time voice in the wilderness against the Grand Alliance has been
the American Society of Cinematographers, the small, elite group (250) of
top camera people. In 1993, the ASC turned against the Grand Alliance but
made little headway. The ASC remains very anti-Grand Alliance, believing
that progressive scan cameras are entirely feasible (Grand Alliance
proponents concede this, given that MIT/Polaroid camera received best-of-
show honors at the spring NAB), that progressive scan will produce vastly
superior image quality, and that chopping/cropping of movies will be
unnecessary in the digital age.

The Hollywood tide turned in May of this year, however, when the
Directors Guild of America (5000 members) joined the opposition to the
Grand Alliance. Steven Spielberg and many other famous directors have
started a letter-writing campaign and Al Gore was pitched by members of
the entertainment community last month.

MPAA. The clout of Hollywood's creative community is reduced by the
strong pro-Grand Alliance position of the Motion Picture Association of
America, which represents the major studios.

Microsoft, which brought out senior VP Craig Mundie to testify on the
hill, has Intel's support and joins Apple's longtime involvement in the
issue. Computer Industry Coalition on Advanced Television Service
("CICATS") is the lobbying group.

National Cable Television Association adamantly opposes any government-
mandated digital TV standard. NCTA president Decker Anstrom said, "It
would be an irreversible mistake for the government to adopt a federal
technology standard for digital television. . . The digital TV
marketplace is already developing quickly, without government standards.
More than two million homes now receive DBS-delivered digital television,
and cable and MMDS companies will be introducing digital TV services this
year."

Scenarios

So who will win? At this point, few are predicting success for the Grand
Alliance opponents, who appear for now in the underdog role.

Passions seem to run surprisingly high around this issue, with WAVE's fax
lines and ears still cooling off from a flurry of charges, counter
charges and contradictions. HDTV sales abroad are 4,000 a year or 300,000
a year, the poor will be disenfranchised by HDTV or by having to buy both
a TV and a computer, PC TVs will cost $50,000 each or will save consumers
billions. I kid you not. You get the picture.

However, three possible scenarios were painted to WAVE by various
participants and observers:

1) HDTV opposition loses. It is too late for the opposition, and the
Grand Alliance already won. At least 3 of the 4 FCC commissioners (Chair
Reed Hundt the exception) are already irrevocably in the Grand Alliance
camp. The broadcasting industry is a Washington insider, and lobbying
outsiders like Microsoft stand little chance. The fight will wake up and
rally the broadcasting industry to be even more pro Grand Alliance.

2) HDTV opposition achieves delay. The FCC won't dare approve such a
significant plan surrounded by such inter-industry rivalry, particularly
in an election year. Who needs a bevy of Hollywood directors directing
commercials denouncing the "bandwidth giveaway of the century" and the
"Clinton/Gore sell-out of hi-tech's future to greedy foreign
manufacturers"? No one will win in November on the "anti-computer" vote.

3) HDTV wins a Pyrrhic victory. The final scenario is that even if the
Grand Alliance wins, the computer and cable industry will simply ignore
the standard and do what they want anyway. The marketplace will rule, and
broadcast TV has already lost its leadership role to cable, satellite,
the Internet, and computers.


Wave Issue 9603 7/19/96 Article 4-01