Pact Reached to Stop Pirating Of Digital TV Over the Internet

[R. A. Hettinga]

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,4287,SB1019779375174781800,00.html




April 26, 2002
NEW MEDIA
Pact Is Reached to Stop Pirating
Of Digital TV Over the Internet

By YOCHI J. DREAZEN and STEPHANIE STEITZER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


WASHINGTON -- Representatives from the entertainment and
consumer-electronics industries told lawmakers that they have agreed on a
system to keep digital television broadcasts from being pirated over the
Internet.

The agreement resolves a dispute that has contributed to the slow rollout
of digital television.

Top executives from content companies, including AOL Time Warner Inc., and
TV makers such as Panasonic/Matsushita Electric Corp. of America told a
House Energy and Commerce Committee panel that they had agreed on technical
standards for a new "watermark." The watermark would be embedded in all
digital TV broadcasts, and TVs, computers and other devices would be
designed to play only materials with the watermark.

The executives said they planned to release the technical details of the
agreement on May 17, at which time they would ask Congress to pass
legislation ratifying the standards.

"There are many issues that are basically solved" concerning the watermark,
said Paul Liao, chief technology officer for Panasonic's American
operations.

The executives conceded that they remained far apart on a range of other
digital copyright issues, including the nettlesome questions of how to
prevent music and movies from being illegally distributed over the Internet
and how to stop viewers from making and sharing digital copies of analog TV
broadcasts.

Still, resolving the digital-TV question is an important milestone that
could boost the popularity of the highly touted technology, which has yet
to catch on with the public.

Broadcasters are supposed to convert all of their signals to digital, but
that transition has been slowed by piracy concerns, the high cost of
digital equipment and a paucity of digital content.

News Corp. President Peter Chernin said that the watermark question was the
"single biggest issue" slowing the spread of digital television, and
predicted that the agreement would "rapidly speed up this transition."

Parts of the agreement remain controversial. Lawrence Blanford, the chief
executive of Philips Consumer Electronics North America, said that Congress
should set the standards itself to ensure that consumers' rights to record
digital television broadcasts and make copies for their own legal use were
protected. Most lawmakers, however, said they preferred to ratify
agreements developed by the private sector.


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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