Combining educational content with digital technology, Intel and the Public Broadcasting System will air the first nationally broadcast digital television program in November.
PBS will air Ken Burns' documentary on legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright to all of its member stations, and six stations will air a digitally enhanced version. The trial broadcast will occur 10 and 11 November during PBS Digital Week.
In addition to DTV-enabled viewers of the six PBS stations, the digital audience will include Intel and PBS employees, who will provide technical feedback about the enhanced broadcast. Intel will provide employee participants with 400 MHz Pentium II PCs equipped with digital receiver cards that will allow them to receive code and display enhanced content. Following the broadcast, participants can interact with video, audio, and enhanced content using DTV-enabled PCs from their homes or PBS member stations.
They will be able to listen to personal interviews with the architect conducted by CBS correspondent Mike Wallace during the 1950s. And a virtual tour will lead them through three historic Wright creations: Fallingwater, the Guggenheim Museum, and Unity Temple. The digitally enhanced material will also contain film footage not included in the documentary.
According to an Intel spokesman, the trial is designed to help increase understanding of the technological barriers involved in commercial digital broadcasting.
For PBS, the broadcast will test how digital technology can be used to enhance programming. It will also demonstrate how PBS can use technology to provide a broader range of educational materials, said spokesman Kevin Dando.
PBS plans to continue to work with Intel over the next year to produce additional digitally enhanced broadcasts.
