/ 07.21.2011 12:00AM
Mark Aitken Promoted to Vice President of Advanced Technology
BALTIMORE: Sinclair Broadcast Group announced today that Mark
Aitken has been promoted to vice president of advanced technology for Sinclair
Television Group. The announcement was made by David Smith, president and CEO
of Sinclair.
“This is a well-deserved promotion for Mark, an undisputed industry leader in
the broadcast technology arena,” Smith said. “His work with the ATSC on the mobile
DTV standard and the Open Mobile Video Coalition was crucial in developing a mobile
digital television standard for the American television broadcast industry. We are
proud of Mark’s role in providing our industry the opportunity to develop a
usable mobile technology. Our industry now stands at a crossroad. As broadcasters,
we have a greater responsibility to our communities, and we are confident that Mark’s
continued efforts will contribute to us fulfilling those obligations.”
Aitken joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in April 1999 and most recently served as
director of advanced technology, for which he was responsible for representing Sinclair’s
interests in industry technical and standards issues, DTV implementation, and representing
Sinclair within the ATSC, OMVC, Mobile500 and other industry related organizations.
Aitken is the chairman of ATSC TSG/S4, the specialist group responsible for Mobile
DTV standardization, and has been involved in the broadcast industry’s migration
to advanced services since 1987 when he first became involved with the FCC’s Advisory
Committee on Advanced Television Service activities.
Prior to joining Sinclair, Mr. Aitken held various positions with the COMARK Division
of Thomcast (now Thomson Broadcast), including manager of the systems engineering,
RF engineering and sales engineering groups, as well as director of marketing and
sales support, which included DTV strategic planning responsibilities. While with
COMARK, Aitken was part of the Emmy Award-winning team that revolutionized the broadcast
industry by bringing IOT technology to the marketplace.
He is a member of the AFCCE, IEEE and SMPTE, and is the author of many papers dealing
with innovative RF product developments, advanced digital television systems design
and related implementation strategies, holds patents for various RF devices, and
was a recipient of the “Broadcasting and Cable” Technology Leadership Award in 2008.