Louisville, Colorado, May 27, 1997—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) and the California Cable Television Association (CCTA) have issued a request for proposal (RFP) for participation in the CableNET'97 demonstration. The exhibit will be part of the Western Cable Show, December 10-12 in Anaheim, California.

CableNET'97 seeks to build upon the cable industry's aggressive efforts to obtain interoperable high-speed cable modems by inviting suppliers to participate in a special joint demonstration of modems. Modem suppliers that have successfully participated in the CableLabs data modem laboratory work will be asked to demonstrate their modems.

CableNET is an integrated demonstration showing the power of the cable industry's hybrid fiber/coaxial (HFC) network and it will be on display December 10-12, at the Western Cable Show in Anaheim, California. It also has an extensive presence on the World Wide Web at http://www.cablenet.org/.

The deadline for filing intentions to bid on CableNET'97 participation is June 9 and final responses are due to be sent to CableLabs July 16. There will be a meeting of prospective bidders in the Denver area June 17.

The CableNET demonstration maintains an educational approach fostered by CableLabs and the CCTA. CableNET'97 will focus on the services and applications that cable operators may deliver to consumers via the HFC telecommunications networks.

The '97 RFP specifically seeks services, applications, hardware and software that already are either under cable industry technology or market trial, or are no more than one year away from deployment.

Areas of interest include new methods of digitizing video, high-speed data services, including on-line information services and multimedia services terminating on computers. Also of interest is Internet access; Internet applications, either in software or hardware form; delivery of telephone service, either wireline or wireless, and cablecommuting.

Other areas that organizers will consider are new Internet appliances; interactive services that terminate on television monitors, including but not limited to near video on demand and video on demand; network management, advanced (digital) television, HDTV and electronic commerce and transactions.

In addition, any content offering, service application or Internet appliance that offers access, that is accessible or that is being designed to be accessible via a broadband connection to the World Wide Web, should also consider participating in CableLabs ongoing Web incubator project. This project makes applications and appliances available to CableLabs members on an ongoing basis beyond the CableNET'97 exhibit at the Western Show.

CableLabs is a research and development consortium of cable television system operators representing more than 85% of the cable subscribers in the United States, 75% of the subscribers in Canada, and 12% of cable subscribers in Mexico. CableLabs plans and funds research and development projects that will help cable companies take advantage of future opportunities and meet future challenges in the telecommunications industry. It also transfers relevant technologies to member companies and to the 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.

CCTA is the industry's largest state cable television association with over 350 members serving over 6 million customers.

About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development consortium, CableLabs delivers innovations that enable cable operators to be the providers of choice in their markets. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains web sites at www.cablelabs.com; www.packetcable.com; www.cablemodem.com; www.cablenet.org, and www.opencable.com.

CableLabs® is a registered trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Other CableLabs marks are listed at http://www.cablelabs.com/certqual/trademarks. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.