FCC Gets New CTO

By
published


FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the appointment of Henning Schulzrinne as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). As CTO, Schulzrinne will be based in the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis and work wit the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology in guiding the FCC's work on technology and engineering issues. Schulzrinne is known for development of the key protocols that enable VoIP and other multimedia applications over the Internet, including multicast distribution of broadcast content.

His paper Personal Mobility for Multimedia Services in the Internet (requires postscript reader) could have been presented at a conference this year and considered current. Schulzrinne wrote it in 1995!

My quick research did not reveal anything about Schulzrinne's opinion of traditional broadcasting or its spectrum, but given his background I would expect him to be sympathetic to ideas to transition TV broadcasting to an efficient IP based broadcast platform such as the Broadcast Overlay.

Doug Lung
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.