Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1 (A), Ohio University (School of Telecommunication), course: New Technologies of Telecommunication, 29 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Usually one would think that an emerging new technology either fails or succeeds, since the consumers know what they want or need, and since the industry knows what is possible and what is not. But sometimes technologies keep coming back. Critics claim them dead but a few years later, they are more alive than ever. High Definition Television (HDTV) is one of those technologies. This briefing paper aims to inform executives of the benefits and drawbacks of HDTV. It explains how this technology basically works, what problems it is designed to solve, who the major players are and what kinds of social, economic and regulatory issues have to be considered.