TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

FCC Chairman Calls for Consumer-Friendly Move to Digital: Reed Hundt urged cable, broadcasting, telephone and other companies to work together to ensure that any new devices people need in order to receive the next generation of television are compatible with each other. Hundt said that by next spring, the Federal Communications Commission will have approved a standard that broadcasters will use in transmitting programs and other information digitally. But before the agency approves the standard, he said, it must consider compatibility and other issues.