Tech Wizardry Controls Network; 'Station in a Box' Units Transfer Feeds, Pick Up Programming, Call In Problems.(Special Report: The WB 100+)(a discussion of the development of the WB 100+ Station Group)(Company Profile)

TelevisionWeek, September, 2003 by O'Steen, Kathleen

Byline: Kathleen O'Steen Special to TelevisionWeek It kind of works on the same idea as ATMs. When Jamie Kellner came up with a plan to distribute The WB Network via a string of cable operators and broadcasters and give the stations a local identity in each market, he needed the tech guys to make it happen.

"No one had ever done anything like this before,'' said Chris Cookson, president of Warner Bros. Technical Operations. "At the time, we were working on video compression, developing digital video disc technology.'' That research, and the subsequent evolution of MPEG II technology, was crucial in the development of the SIB (station in a box) unit, a box about 5.25 inches high that has a computer brain. Created by Warner Bros. and IBM, the box, which...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.