Pioneer Cable & Communications Group Joins Digital Set-Top-Box Makers in Signing CableLabs PHILA Documents.

Pioneer Cable and Communications Group, a North American leader in cable television digital set-top boxes, today announced that it has become the most recent company to sign the Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs® POD (point-of-deployment)-Host Interface License Agreement (PHILA).

PHILA is a critical component of the CableLabs OpenCable™ project. Companies that sign the agreement receive a license to deploy proprietary technology necessary to manufacture OpenCable set-top boxes. The agreement focuses on the copy protection technology of the connecting point between an OpenCable™ point-of-deployment (POD) module and the OpenCable set-top box.

"This represents a natural synergy for Pioneer, since we are the third largest manufacturer with an installed base within the digital cable arena," said Paul Dempsey, president, Business Solutions Division, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. "We believe our alignment with CableLabs and our support for the OpenCable platform is a very significant and integral component to our long-term commitment to the U.S. cable industry in making digital set-tops a reality for the retail environment."

The POD-Host interface is the link that allows a retail cable box to be portable across a variety of different cable system headends by standardizing the communication between individual addressable POD modules and the connected set-top terminals or navigation devices.

"Having Pioneer become the fourth company to sign PHILA validates the cable industry's commitment to OpenCable's advanced digital service provisioning platform," said CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green.

In making the announcement, Don Dulchinos, vice president of advanced platforms and services for CableLabs said, "We are delighted to have a company of Pioneer's size and experience as a partner in this critical program for the cable TV industry. We plan to fully support Pioneer to ensure that their efforts help move the industry forward, and to enable Pioneer, and other OpenCable manufacturers, to continue to produce innovative products that are compliant with the OpenCable specifications."

CableLabs is a research and development consortium of cable television system operators. CableLabs plans and funds research and development projects that will help cable companies take advantage of future opportunities and meet future challenges in the cable television industry.

In addition, CableLabs acts as a clearinghouse to provide information on current and prospective technological developments that are of interest to the cable industry. CableLabs maintains web sites at www.cablelabs.com; www.packetcable.com; www.cablemodem.com; www.cablenet.org; and www.opencable.com.

About Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., Cable and Communications

Pioneer has a 25-year history as a leading hardware provider in the cable television industry. The company has deployed more than 10 million analog and digital cable set-top boxes within the U.S., featuring the Voyager™ series of advanced digital cable products. With its steadfast dedication to technological development, Pioneer's Cable and Communications Group continues to be an innovative leader in the cable television industry. It is a part of Pioneer's Business Solutions Division, which provides professional business-to-business products across a wide range of markets including cable television, professional video/audio, educational, medical, legal and banking. Pioneer enjoys a 12 percent market share of digital set-top boxes in the United States. It is one of only three companies enjoying a major share among digital set-top boxes deployed in the country today. Visit Pioneer Cable and Communications at www.pioneerbroadband.com.