WASHINGTON—The ATSC, the Broadcast Standards Association, honored veteran technologist Aldo Cugnini and Clarence Hau, Senior Vice President of Standards, Policy & Advanced Engineering at NBCUniversal at its annual meeting this week.
Cugnini is recipient of the 2025 Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award, which is bestowed once a year to an individual representative of the ATSC membership whose technical and leadership contributions to ATSC have been invaluable and exemplary. The Lechner Award recognizes the first recipient, the late Bernard Lechner, for his outstanding service to the ATSC. Lechner was the retired Staff Vice President, Advanced Video Systems of RCA Laboratories. His 30-year career at RCA covered all aspects of television and display research.
“Aldo Cugnini’s long-standing dedication to ATSC and his pivotal work in ITU-R have been instrumental in positioning ATSC 3.0 as a truly international broadcast standard,” said Madeleine Noland, President of ATSC. “His technical expertise, collaborative spirit, and international leadership make him richly deserving of the 2025 Lechner Award.”
Cugnini, AGC Systems principal, is a distinguished broadcast engineer whose career spans over 25 years, marked by significant contributions to digital television standards and technologies. He played a leadership role in developing ATSC digital television systems, contributing to both ATSC 1.0 and the next-generation ATSC 3.0 standards. Cugnini also serves as the International Telecommunication Union’s Co-Chair of the ITU-R SG6 WP6A Rapporteur Group on ATSC 3.0, actively participating in international standardization efforts to incorporate ATSC 3.0 into global broadcasting frameworks. Credited with 14 issued patents in digital television, audio, broadcasting, and spectrum management, Cugnini’s extensive experience and contributions have been instrumental in advancing digital broadcasting technologies.
Cugnini is a recognized expert in the fields of digital television, consumer technology and product development, technology policy, and intellectual property. He founded AGC Systems in 2003 after holding various technical and management positions at Philips Electronics and interactive TV developer ACTV. Prior to his work in digital TV, he developed broadcast technologies at CBS Laboratories and was a radio engineer for WKCR, WABC, and WPLJ in New York. Cugnini has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia University. A musician as well as a technologist, he is a timpanist with the Hanover Wind Symphony and the South Orange Symphony Orchestra and also performs with several groups in Frederick, Maryland.
The ATSC also recognized Clarence Hau, Senior Vice President of Standards, Policy & Advanced Engineering at NBCUniversal, as the 2025 recipient of the prestigious Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal.
The annual award honors individuals or teams who demonstrate exemplary leadership in advancing ATSC’s mission and embody the vision, tenacity, and commitment that defined the legacy of former longtime ATSC President Mark Richer. The 2025 Richer Medal will be presented to Hau next month during the 2025 ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference in Washington. Registration for the June 12-13 event is open until June 3.
Hau has been unanimously recognized by the ATSC Board of Directors for his outstanding contributions to the progress and implementation of NEXTGEN TV powered by ATSC 3.0 standards. His leadership within NBCUniversal and across the industry has played a pivotal role in bringing audiences the very best of ATSC 3.0, delivering better picture quality, immersive sound, and award-winning interactivity that is driving real-world adoption of the technology.
“Clarence’s passion, determination, and deep technical insight have made a lasting impact,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “His efforts are not only helping to shape the future of television but are also directly enhancing the viewing experience for audiences everywhere – including me. With this honor, we’re recognizing Clarence’s bold, forward-looking leadership and also NBCUniversal’s key role in the NEXTGEN TV rollout.”
“I’m very appreciative of our longstanding partnership with ATSC, and proud of NBCUniversal’s role in bringing enhanced and innovative experiences to local audiences through NEXTGEN TV,” said Hau. “This is a tremendous honor, and one that was made possible due to the ingenuity and collaboration of my NBCU colleagues, and our partners, who’ve dedicated themselves to delivering on the great potential of the new broadcast standard.”
The Mark Richer Medal is named for the longtime ATSC President who led the organization through two decades of transformative innovation, from the original ATSC 1.0 standard to the launch of ATSC 3.0 next-generation standards.
Lechner Award recipients:
2000 – Bernard Lechner, Consultant
2001 – Rich Chernock, Triveni Digital
2002 – Regis Crinon, Microsoft
2003 – Glenn Adams, Extensible Formatting Systems, Inc
2004 – Graham Jones, National Association of Broadcasters
2005 – John Henderson, Hitachi
2006 – Art Allison, NAB
2007 – Mark Eyer, Sony Electronics
2008 – Michael Dolan, TBT
2009 – Wayne Bretl, Zenith/LG Electronics
2010 – Pat Waddell, Harmonic
2011 – Jim Starzynski, NBC Universal
2012 – S. Merrill Weiss, MWG Group
2013 – Mark Aitken, Sinclair Broadcast Group
2014 – James Kutzner, PBS
2015 – Luke Fay, Sony
2016 – Madeleine Noland, LG Electronics
2017 – Skip Pizzi, NAB
2018 – Mark Corl, Triveni Digital
2019 – Adam Goldberg, AGP/Sony
2020 – Jae-Young Lee, ETRI
2021 – Alan Stein, InterDigital
2022 – Youngkwon Lim, Samsung Electronics
2023 – Glenn Reitmeier, NBC Universal/Sarnoff Labs
2024 – Ali Dernaika, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
2025 – Aldo Cugnini, AGC Systems
