MSTV Hosts Annual Conference

The Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV) will host its 22nd Annual Television Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. With the completion of the DTV transition only five months away (as of today, Sept. 19), this should be a memorable event. The Conference gets under way with the "DTV Transition: The Final Stretch" session, with panelists from Harris, NCTA, NAB, Stainless LLC, DirecTV, Dish Network, CEA, NTIA, the FCC and other key players in the DTV transition. Margaret Tobey, NBC Universal vice president of regulatory affairs, and Dianne Smith, vice president for legal affairs for Fox Television Stations, will moderate a panel with legal advisors to FCC commissioners and Chairman Kevin Martin.

Afternoon events begin with the session "Mobile TV: The Future." It will feature panelists from ION Media Networks, Media General Broadcast Group, Cox Broadcasting and LG Electronics.

The day's last session is titled, "Interference in the Digital World." It is moderated by Susan Fox, vice president for government relations at Walt Disney Co. and Bill Lebeau, senior regulatory counsel for NBC Universal and Telemundo. Panelists include Robert Hubbard, president and CEO of Hubbard TV Group; Robert Seidel, vice president of engineering and advanced technology at the CBS Television Network; Jeff Willis, coordinating technical manager for event operations at ESPN Productions; and Bruce Franca, vice president of policy and technology at MSTV. The session will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.

Additional information is available on the MSTV conference Web site.

Your comments and story leads are always appreciated! Drop me a note at dlung@transmitter.com.

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.