The Introduction of HDTV into Digital Television Networks

Gordon Drury has worked in the telecommunications and broadcasting industries for over 30 years. He began his career in 1967 working in research and development for telecommunications, including early compression systems for television. Between 1974 and 1990 he was with the UK Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) where he led projects in digital transmission and compression of television signals, digital video, and audio recording and source coding for digital TV. During the 1980s Drury was a senior member of a development team studying HDTV and its practical introduction. During this time he also served on a number of CCIR (now ITU-R) and EBU committees. On the privatization of the IBA and the formation of NTL at the end of 1990, he became involved with commercial development of digital television, especially video compression systems, and was involved in the early design and marketing of the NTL System 2000 range of products. NTL sold its compression business to News International in November 1995 at which time he was appointed vice-president, technology, for the new company, now known as News Digital Systems (NDS). He is responsible for research into new technology, standardization, and the management of patents and licensing activities. Drury has presented numerous lectures and seminars on broadcasting technology and has published over 80 papers at broadcasting and communications technology conferences, in professional standards groups and in communications journals. He is a Fellow of the UK Institution of Electrical Engineers.