The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the recipients of the 68th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards that will take place on Saturday, January 7th, 2017. This event marks the eleventh consecutive year that the Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards have been presented during CES. The reception and presentation will take place in the Monet Ballroom at The Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas beginning at 6:30 p.m.
“From our beginnings in 1948, the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards always recognized the talented and innovative leaders and companies that have made our industry possible,” said Bob Mauro, president, NATAS. “As we all enjoy the new world of television on our laptops, tablets and smartphones, we take time tonight to honor those that have the vision of seeing the seemingly impossible and making it a reality.”
“The National Academy’s Technology and Engineering Achievement Committee is pleased to honor these technology companies and especially happy to honor, Tony Werner, president of Technology and Product at Comcast Cable with our Lifetime Achievement Award for his distinguished career,” said committee chairman, Robert P. Seidel, VP of CBS Engineering and Advanced Technology and chairman, Engineering Achievement Committee, NATAS. “Over the last twenty-five years, Tony has been one of the leaders in the digital revolution in video, voice and data services in our industry delivering world-class products to consumers and companies alike.”
The individuals and companies that will be honored at the event follow.
2016 Technical / Engineering Achievement Awards
Live Production Technology Beyond HD to Achieve Non-Interpolated Video for Instant Replay
- Evertz
- EVS
- FOR-A
Concept of Opto-Electric Transduction
- Telcon (Alcatel Lucent-Submarine Networks)
- Society of Telegraph Engineers (Institute of Engineering and Technology)
- Siemens
Development and Standardization of Media Object Server (MOS) Protocol
- Media Object Server (MOS) Group
System for Executing Targeted Household Advertising on Linear Television
- Invidi Technologies
- Visible World
Pioneering Invention and Deployment of Fiber Optic Cable
- Corning
- Bell Labs/Western Electric (OFS)
Pioneering Technology to Automate the Digital On-Line Assembly of Broadcast Content
- IBM Corporation
- Laser Pacific/SCAA (Technicolor)
Lifetime Achievement Award
Tony Werner
Tony G. Werner serves as president of Technology and Product for Comcast Cable. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Technology and Product organization, including innovation, development and operations. The Technology and Product team leads the design and development of Comcast’s customer-facing products, including the X1 Entertainment Operating System, second-screen apps, and ultra-fast home Internet and Wi-Fi. The organization also leads software development, systems engineering, next-generation access networks, cloud computing, technical operations and R&D within Comcast.
Under Werner’s leadership, Comcast has completed major platform developments, including DOCSIS 3.0, the Digital terminal Adapter/all-digital transition and the X1 platform. . In 2015, Comcast became the first company to connect a gigabit-class DOCSIS 3.1 modem on a customer-facing network.
The Technology and Product organization also designs and builds new X1 features like Kids Zone, the Sports App and X1 Voice Remote.
Prior to joining Comcast in 2006, Werner served as sr. VP and chief technology officer for Liberty Global, Inc., in Englewood, CO, where he led the company’s global strategy for video, voice and data services. He has more than 25 years of engineering and technical management experience, having also held senior management positions with Qwest Communications, Aurora Networks, TeleCommunications, Inc. (TCI)/AT&T Broadband, Rogers Communications, Inc., and RCA Cablevision Systems.
Werner serves as president and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) Foundation (2015-16 term).
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More