i3 - November/December 2016 - 50

Grand Alliance Architects
Under the steady leadership of 2009 Consumer Technology Hall of Fame honoree
as America's digital TV standard were merged together in 1993 to

A Cooperative Spirit

"Despite the intense
competition prior to the
formation of the Grand
Alliance, the technical
people from the Grand
50

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

- DR. PETER BINGHAM

- DR. JIM CARNES

- DR. CURT CRAWFORD

Alliance member companies
worked very cooperatively.
We met many, many times.
We discussed and argued
a lot. In the end, we made
decisions based on rational
and reasonable criteria.
Our theme song was 'We
Can Work It Out,'" said MIT
Professor Dr. Jae Lim.
Dr. Curt Crawford, former
AT&T Microelectronics
president, said that "from
the beginning, our intent
was to be the absolute
winner in the race to deliver
the most advanced video
and audio technology. After
all, AT&T Bell Laboratories
had developed the best
solution for the television
industry. However, after
numerous attempts to
convince the industry to
adopt our solutions, we
realized that other leaders
felt the same way about their
technology. Consequently,
in the face of unrelenting
resistance from many
members of our technical
staff, we recognized that a
compromise was the only
way to break the logjam to

industry progress."
"Since we at Zenith
were already working
with AT&T we understood
the 'not invented here'
elements involved with
joint development. While
challenging, it could be
done," explained retired
Zenith Electronics CEO
Jerry Pearlman.
But pooling resources
wasn't always a cakewalk,
said retired Sarnoff Labs
CEO Dr. Jim Carnes who
represented Sarnoff
Research Center and
Thomson. "I found it pretty
difficult, especially during
the early phase of the
Grand Alliance. Because
there were patents involved
and therefore fairly big
bucks, agreeing on the final
system got a bit difficult.
Fortunately, a number
of us had roots at RCA.
Thomson's Joe Donahue
had been my boss. Pete
Bingham of Philips had
been my boss. Bob Rast
of General Instrument
had been a colleague and
Wayne Luplow of Zenith had

worked at Sarnoff. These
relationships, I believe,
were critical to arriving
at a consensus. It took
Dick Wiley to get involved
near the end to finalize
the agreement. Actually, it
almost fell though, it was a
closely run thing.
"But once we had a
system agreed upon, it got a
lot smoother and as we built
the final system together
at Sarnoff, we developed a
close bond and team spirit
among the Grand Alliance
members," Carnes recalls.
Even before the Grand
Alliance, former Philips Labs
President Dr. Peter Bingham
was already working with
Sarnoff, Thomson and NBC
on a proposal that "was
based on shared goals
and resources, so we were
pretty much accustomed
to the sharing of resources.
Of course, it would have
been nice to have our
own Advanced Television
Research Consortium
proposals totally adopted,
but that didn't happen. So,
with that as a given, I was very
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

CRAWFORD BY STEVE FENN

R

epresentatives
of the key
companies who
had developed
advanced television
proposals eventually agreed
to Wiley's merger concept
and the result was a unified
digital TV broadcasting
system that was tested,
proven and ultimately
approved by the FCC. It
remains in place today,
nearly a quarter-century
after the various individuals
agreed to work together.
The distinguished leaders
who comprised the "HDTV
Grand Alliance" had to put
aside personal and business
bias, working together to
formulate an ideal broadcast
TV standard. With virtually
all high-definition screens
sold today incorporating
electronics that receive,
decode and display the
over-the-air broadcast
standard, the major players
are being recognized
for their foresight and
contributions as team
honorees in the CT Hall
of Fame.
i3 - November/December 2016

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