Eddie Fritts looked out at thousands of broadcast executives and heralded "the birth of the digital era." He looked like he really wanted to believe it.
"After years of talking and planning, digital is really here," Fritts, president and chief executive of the National Assn. of Broadcasters, said in a slick speech delivered in top TV broadcaster form at the trade group's annual conference here last week. "The countdown is on to November," when the networks must begin broadcasting digital signals to the country's 10 largest markets.
As if to prove the point, NAB--as the group is known--invited Apple Computer co-founder and interim Chief Executive Steve Jobs to deliver the keynote address. So, into an auditorium packed with broadcast execs in stylish suits, shiny ties and polished shoes walked Jobs, wearing a black T-shirt and a well-worn pair of Levis.
That was just the beginning of the culture clash between the worlds of entertainment and technology at NAB98.
The onset of digital television, including high-definition TV, brought the two groups together. But the techies often found their enthusiastic speeches about the convergence of computers, television and the Internet falling on deaf--or at the very least uninterested--ears.
Jobs acknowledged the broadcasters' apathy for digital TV right off: "I know a lot of you wish it would go away, but we have to talk about it because it's not going to go away." Then he made a move to level the playing field by declaring: "The computer industry knows nothing about entertainment, and much of the entertainment industry is not exactly computer literate either."
Although Jobs' role in creating Pixar Animation Studios means he's no stranger to Hollywood, he displayed a surprising lack of entertainment savvy. In a presentation much more appropriate for Comdex, Jobs launched a glorified product demo of Apple's multimedia player QuickTime. He widened the divide even further by yielding the floor to Peter Hoddie, Apple's chief QuickTime architect who--with his long hair parted straight down the middle--looked like a computer nerd straight out of Central Casting.
The presentations of other high-tech execs often degenerated into lengthy demonstrations as well, causing many eyes to glaze over. Microsoft's Craig Mundie, senior vice president of the company's consumer platform division, showed off WebTV, the Internet browsing service customers can access through their television sets. Representatives from WebTV competitors WorldGate Communications, Interactive Channel and others also cooled audience interest in their services with long PowerPoint presentations.
