Televisionaries is the captivating inside story of the digital television revolution, featuring the engineers, entrepreneurs, and media titans who made it happen. During the 1980s, conventional wisdom held that "Japan Inc." would become the leading economic power, with its new HDTV technology dominating the next generation of consumer electronics. In response, European countries funded a billion-dollar HDTV activity designed to keep the Japanese at bay. But both solutions had a fatal flaw - they were based on analog technology. With the world's eyes diverted overseas, General Instrument (GI) harbored a secret project in its San Diego labs. The notion of transforming television from its analog roots to the zeros and ones of computers was deemed impossible at the time. Undaunted, GI boldly developed the world's first digital television system, upsetting the status quo on three continents. Digital TV soon became a reality for consumers throughout the world, and the media business was forever changed. Televisionaries is a well written, fascinating chronicle of TV's digital transformation. Marc Tayer captures the politics, business drivers and perspectives of all the players and is factually on the mark. BOB ZITTER , former HBO executive vice president and chief technology officer "A well-documented account of how American entrepreneurship and innovation transformed an entire industry." DONALD H. RUMSFELD , former CEO of General Instrument Corporation; former US Secretary of Defense and government official "Bravo! At long last we have a definitive chronicle of the explosive growth of new media, poignantly matching the key people with their historic achievements." PAUL KAGAN , founder of Paul Kagan Associates, Inc., pioneer in media analysis "Colorfully written and meticulously researched, Televisionaries is a masterful compilation of the 'inside baseball' maneuvers that shaped digital television -- told from a vantage point few can claim. Two thumbs way up!" LESLIE ELLIS , technology writer, editor, and author "Marc Tayer has woven a rich tapestry of a remarkably dynamic scene, combining large corporate interests with the evolution of sophisticated technology." ANDREW VITERBI , co-founder and former CTO of Qualcomm Marc Tayer wrote Televisionaries following a thirty-year career in the media and communications technology business. He joined General Instrument's New York corporate headquarters in 1985 and transferred to its San Diego-based VideoCipher Division in 1987. Two years later, he was appointed core team leader and product manager for the company's trailblazing digital television project, a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Tayer served as VP of Global Marketing upon GI's acquisition by Motorola in 2000. He then cofounded two digital video tech startups, Aerocast and Imagine Communications, while working for Cablevision's Voom HDTV venture along the way. He received his BA from Williams College and his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.