LAS VEGAS — Six years after Apple Computer Co. founder Steve Jobs came here to urge broadcasters to undergo a high-tech makeover, the entertainment industry -- intent on remaining the dominant force in American living rooms -- is still wary of Silicon Valley.
The computer industry has transformed telecommunications, manufacturing and the office cubicle, but television hasn't changed much since Jobs told executives at the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention: "We're dying to work with you guys."
There are, of course, more channels and fancier TV sets. But, as 90,000 people gather here for the broadcasting industry's annual convention, the quantum leap in picture quality promised by digital TV -- and the predicted ability to store and transfer video as easily as music fans manage music on their Apple iPods -- is elusive.
Experts blame poor marketing, high prices, disputes over standards and the studios' fear of ceding control over their creative works to the computer industry. Studios fear piracy, and broadcasters are leery of devices like TiVo Inc.'s digital videorecorders that give users the ability to devise their own viewing schedules and skip commercials, potentially undermining broadcasting's lifeblood of advertising.
"Rather than protecting content," the networks, producers and equipment makers "are trying to protect a broadcast business model, which is falling apart without any push from the computer industry," said James M. Burger, a Washington communications lawyer who represents Apple, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Microsoft Corp. on digital TV issues.
The entertainment industry is making a stand at the living room door, Burger added, "out of fear the computer industry would march in and take over."
Nonetheless, Silicon Valley executives and engineers will be in the crowd at the Las Vegas Convention Center, hoping to win converts to their vision of a digital living room. Companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Intel Corp. and Gateway Inc. want to establish the personal computer as the principal home entertainment manager.
"There's been a lack of visible traction in this area," said Jason Reindorp, group manager for Microsoft's digital media division. But he thinks broadcasters "share our vision of quality digital media content coming into the home and, once it's in the house, letting the consumer have the freedom to move it about."
