Arlington, Va. — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is teaming its 10th annual HDTV Summit, to be held on March 15, and its new event, IP and Creativity – Redefining the Issue, on March 16, at the Washington D.C. Convention Center.
The HDTV Summit will feature top industry and government leaders as they debate and offer predictions about the impending analog television cutoff on March 15.
The latest DTV policy issues, legislation and regulatory proceedings will be discussed during a morning panel featuring Rick Chessen, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) associate chief and chairman of the DTV task force; Rhett Dawson, Information Technology Industry Council’s president and CEO; David Donovan, MSTV’s president; Gary Shapiro, CEA’s president/CEO; and Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge’s president and co-founder. The panel, moderated by Gary Arlen of Arlen Communications, also will allow these leaders to offer insight on the road ahead as America completes the analog to DTV transition, CEA said.
The Los Angeles Times’ reporter Jon Healy will moderate a sales forecast session featuring experts predicting what is on the horizon for HDTV, as well as how the current sales figures and past predictions have played out. Panelists include Josh Bernoff, VP/principal analyst, Forrester Research; Phil Swann, CEO, TV Predictions; Sean Wargo, industry analysis director, CEA; and Ross Young, president and CEO, DisplaySearch.
The fifth annual Academy of Digital Television Pioneers Awards luncheon is included in the HDTV Summit registration and will follow the morning conference program. Nominees from 10 DTV Award categories will be recognized for their outstanding achievements in the advancement of HDTV throughout 2004.
The HDTV Summit will close with Beyond HD Technology — a panel discussion that will look at the opportunities for the returned analog spectrum. Experts will discuss the possibilities for use of the analog spectrum ranging from public safety and wireless to unknown future innovations.
CEA’s first annual Digital Patriots Dinner stands as the bridge between the HDTV Summit and a new CEA conference (IP & Creativity – Redefining the Issue) that will be held March 16 at the convention center.
This celebratory dinner will honor innovation, technology and the leaders of the digital revolution.The event features the induction of the inaugural class of “digital patriots” from the U.S. Congress and the technology industry and a product showcase demonstrating the vibrant consumer electronics industry’s past, present and future.
CEA has updated program and panelists for IP and Creativity – Redefining the Issue. The intellectual property (IP) conference is a new CEA event examining the tension between creativity, technology, innovation and intellectual property protection.
Conference speakers to date include: Hank Barry, partner, Hummer Winbald Venture Partners; Mark Cuban, chairman/president, HDnet; Alan Davidson, associate director, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT); Professor Richard Florida, author, The Rise of the Creative Class, and The Flight of the Creative Class; Charles Kolb, president, Committee for Economic Development; Dr. Paul Liao, VP/chief technology officer, Panasonic Corp. of North America; Professor Stan Liebowitz, professor of managerial economics, University of Texas at Dallas; Stacie Rumenap, deputy directory/CPAC director, American Conservative Union (ACU); Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder, Public Knowledge; Professor Koleman Strumpf, associate professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Hot topics will include legislation like the ill-fated Induce Act and the upcoming Supreme Court reexamination of the Sony Betamax doctrine in the Grokster case. The 1984 Sony Betamax case set the legal standard that a product is legal if it has substantial legal uses. The Supreme Court will revisit this decision in examining legality of the Grokster file-sharing service.
IP & Creativity will conclude with a final panel of industry leaders, including Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America; Dan Glickman, president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America; Kevin McGuiness, executive director and counsel of NetCoalition; and Gary Shapiro.
Event registration for both conferences is available online at www.CE.org/events.
