Technology, Television and Competition: The Politics of Digital TV

264 Pages·2004·1.835 MB·English

by  Jeffrey A. Hart

This page intentionally left blank
Technology, Television, and Competition
In the late 1980s and 1990s, the advanced industrial countries
consideredreplacingtheexistinganalogtelevisioninfrastructure
with a new digital one. A key common feature to the debates
over digital TV (DTV) in the United States, Western Europe,
andJapanwastheeventualvictoryoftheideasofdigitalism(the
superiority of everything digital over everything analog) and of
digital convergence (the merging of computing, telecommuni-
cations,andbroadcastinginfrastructuresmadepossiblebydigi-
talization) in public debates over standards. Jeffrey Hart’s book
shows how nationalism and regionalism combined with digital-
ismtoproducethreedifferentandincompatibleDTVstandards
inthethreeregions,anoutcomewhichhasledtomissedoppor-
tunities in developing the new technologies. Hart’s book con-
tributestoourunderstandingofrelationsbetweenbusinessand
government,andofcompetitionbetweentheworld’sgreateco-
nomicpowers.
  isProfessorofPoliticalScienceatIndianaUni-
versity, Bloomington. His publications include The New Inter-
nationalEconomicOrder(1983),RivalCapitalists(1992),Global-
izationandGovernance(1999),ManagingNewIndustryCreation
(2001),andThePoliticsofInternationalEconomicRelations(2003).

Technology, Television,
and Competition
The Politics of Digital TV
Jeffrey A. Hart
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Informatnio on tshi title: www.cambdri ge.org/9780521826242
© Jeffrey A. Hart 2004
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2004
isbn--13 978-0-511-07369-4 eBook (NetLibrary)
isbn--10 0-511-07369-0 eBook (NetLibrary)
isbn--13 978-0-521-82624-2 hardback
isbn--10 0-521-82624-1 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
To my wife Joan

Contents
Preface pageix
Acknowledgments x
Listofacronyms xi
1 Introduction 1
2 TheinstitutionalsettingforadvancedTV 17
3 Digitalconvergence:consumerelectronics 60
4 HDTVinJapan 84
5 HDTVintheUnitedStates 100
6 HDTVinEurope 118
7 DigitaltelevisionintheUnitedStates 150
8 DigitaltelevisioninEuropeandJapan 181
9 Examplesofglobalstandards 207
10 Conclusions 221
Index 233
vii