Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
regulations requiring virtually all TVs to include digital television
(DTV) tuners by 2007 applies not only to consumer sets, but also to TVs
installed in hotel rooms. Those DTV tuners, which receive HDTV broadcasts,
will be phased- in starting next month with 36-inch and larger TVs.
“That means the HDTV experience already in more than 11 million U.S.
living rooms will soon become an enhanced guest experience in our ‘home
away from home,’ the millions of hotel rooms across the nation,” explained
Ron Snaidauf, vice president, Commercial Products, for LG Electronics USA,
Inc., whose Zenith subsidiary developed the transmission system at the
heart of the FCC’s DTV standard.

Just as consumers today are experiencing the benefits of digital TV,
including its widescreen, high-definition images, hoteliers will be able
to offer compelling HDTV content thanks to LG Electronics technology such
as the lodging industry’s first in-room HDTV system developed with
LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation.

With the new FCC DTV regulations taking effect, LG also is developing
integrated hotel HDTVs, Snaidauf said, adding: “Now is the time for major
chains to plan for the future, joining forces with a total in-room video
solution supplier like LG, with leadership both in HDTV and in lodging
TVs.”

The company’s strategy to help hotels and resorts bridge to the digital
future involves partnering with leading program providers such as
LodgeNet, while capitalizing on LG’s leading technologies developed
specifically for the lodging industry, such as its flat-screen hotel TVs
and integrated plasma display solutions, he said.
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