If you read the prior report on Texas Instruments, you won’t be surprised to learn that a team of exhibition technology executives will be visiting with Kent Novak, newly appointed SVP of the DLP division, in March. Kent is new to DLP, and is the person to whom Nancy Fares now reports. Kent, in turn, reports to Gregg Lowe, who leads TI’s Analog Division.
After former DLP Cinema exec Doug Darrow moved on in 2005 to lead business development for the now defunct DLP TV group, the relationship between the exhibition industry and TI has waned. Nancy Fares has made little outreach to the industry, and recent events surrounding the secretive and poorly conceived 3-D licensing fee invokes the need for exhibition to get closer to TI. When first queried about the 3-D licensing fee, Nancy Fares’ comment was that “the fee does not impact exhibitors.” The response demonstrates the gap that needs to be bridged.