ATVEF: A Specification for Interactive Television Based on Internet Standards

Skip Pizzi is a Program Manager in the Interactive Television Technology Group at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington, USA. He previously served as Audio Technical Manager for the Microsoft's Media Services Department, where he oversaw the technical operation and maintenance of Microsoft's digital audio production facilities. Prior to joining Microsoft, Skip spent seven years with Primedia/Intertec Publishing as Technical Editor of Broadcast Engineering magazine and Editor of BE Radio magazine. He continues to write regularly for broadcast, media-production and computer industry trade publications, and currently serves as Executive Editor for BE Radio . He also provides new technology consulting services for public broadcasters. Previously, Skip spent 13 years as a technical director, engineering supervisor and technical training coordinator at National Public Radio in Washington, DC, where he was involved in the production of numerous award-winning programs, and the creation of many technical training projects. He currently serves as a member of the Distribution and Interconnection Committee of NPR's Board of Directors, and as an advisor to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC -on Internet streaming media. He has been involved with technical standardization activities, both domestic and international, and currently serves as Secretary on the T3/S17 Subcommittee of the Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC), a group that is developing standards for interactive software in DTV. Skip's book, Digital Radio Basics , was published in 1992, and he is a contributing author to the NAB Engineering Handbook , the McGraw-Hill Digital Consumer Electronics Handbook , the CRC Press/IEEE Electronics Handbook and several other technical references and texts. He is a member of the editorial board for the Focal Encyclopedia of Electronic Media (a CD-ROM reference) and the upcoming 24-volume Wiley/IEEE Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering . Skip studied Physics, International Economics and Fine Arts at Georgetown University, graduating in 1975. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), and he is the recipient of the AES Board of Governors Award and the Public Radio PRO Award.