Academy Of Digital Television Pioneers Honors DTV Programming And Leadership

First Awards Presented At CEA's Digital Television Conference In New York City

6-Nov-00

The Academy of Digital Television Pioneers, a group of industry leaders who played a significant role in the development of digital television (DTV) technology, presented its first annual awards to winners in eight categories. The awards honor excellence in DTV content development and delivery, and recognize outstanding leadership in the DTV transition. Honorees were recognized in a ceremony held during the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) industry conference, ""Delivering On The DTV Promise,"" held in New York City. Awards were given to: - CBS (Best DTV Network)- Capitol Broadcasting Company's WRAL-Digital (Best Local DTV Broadcaster)- Time-Warner Cable (Best DTV Cable System)- DIRECTVÆ (Best DTV Satellite Provider)- ""ABC Monday Night Football"" (Best DTV Sporting Event)- ""Over America"" (Best Original DTV Material) The academy also presented DTV Leadership Awards to Commissioner Susan Ness of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Dick Wiley, Former Chairman of the FCC and former Chair of the Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service. Conference sponsors, together with academy member and CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro presented the awards.""With these awards, the academy has recognized the content and the individuals are driving the consumer transition to DTV. The members of the academy understand very well the challenges that are involved in making DTV a success - and the commitment that today's award winners have demonstrated,"" said Shapiro.The Academy of Digital Television Pioneers is a select group of more than 60 individuals who have played a significant role in the decade-long effort that made digital television a reality for consumers. The academy includes individuals from the broadcasting, program development, consumer electronics manufacturing and retail industries, as well as present and former government officials, and members of the media. These ""pioneers,"" representing the full range of industries involved in DTV, were invited by CEA to be part of the academy to help the CE industry recognize today's DTV leaders. The academy was established earlier this year through a nomination process established by the Consumer Electronics Association and its members. Additional nominations to the academy are currently being reviewed, and will be released at a later date.Members of the academy submitted nominations for each award category and voted in a final ballot last month. The academy expects to present awards annually.Source: CEA