Cable Television Laboratories, Sony, Canon, Pioneer, Sony Pictures; Cable Ready for Retail at CES '99.

LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1999--Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs) and several equipment manufacturers have organized a look at cable connected consumer products at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 7-10.

"We wanted to reinforce our commitment to enable multiple CE manufacturers to compete in the provision of digital cable ready products," said CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R.Green. CableLabs, on behalf of the cable television industry, is aggressively pursuing interoperability in its high-level projects -- DOCSIS, OpenCable(TM), and PacketCable(TM). Modems enabled by these projects are expected to enter the retail channel in 1999, and set-top or other digital cable ready devices are expected to enter the retail channel in the second half of 2000.

This interoperability will enable the cable industry to choose equipment from a variety of suppliers building similar products. It will also provide cable customers with the economic benefits of price competition and product innovation, as well as the opportunity to purchase interoperable products at retail stores in the near future.

The exhibit features four separate demonstrations:

- Sony Electronics is demonstrating a prototype retail set-top box incorporating the removable security slot and card (or POD module) that is a key element of the OpenCable process which will enable retail set-tops or other digital cable devices.

- Pioneer is demonstrating a High Definition digital television receiver connected via the IEEE 1394 standard to a cable set-top converter box.

- Canon Information Systems is showing digital imaging and printing products that will be compatible with OpenCable specifications (such as IEEE 1394), particularly in home networking environments.

- The exhibit also features a demonstration of interactive television made possible by the OpenCable specification which allows application and service developers to write software that will run independently of hardware or operating system software choices. Sony Pictures Entertainment is showing applications that allow for customer interaction with video programming such as the popular Dawson's Creek television program.

CableLabs invites consumer electronics hardware and software providers to participate in the ongoing OpenCable project by signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (to keep early drafts of the specification confidential) available at www.opencable.com.

CableLabs is a research and development consortium of cable television system operators representing the continents of North America and South America. CableLabs plans and funds research and development projects that will help cable companies take advantage of future opportunities and meet future challenges in the cable television industry.

It also transfers relevant technologies to member companies and to the industry. In addition, CableLabs acts as a clearinghouse to provide information on current and prospective technological developments that are of interest to the cable industry. CableLabs maintains web sites at http://www.cablelabs.com; http://www.cablemodem.com; http://www.cablenet.org; http://www.opencable.com, and http://www.packetcable.com.