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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — April 3, 2018 — SMPTE^®, the organization whose standards work has supported a century of advances in entertainment technology and whose membership spans the globe, today announced that SMPTE Fellow Thomas Bause Mason will be joining the staff as the Society’s new director of standards development. Howard Lukk, who is returning to his career in postproduction, will conclude his tenure as SMPTE director of engineering and standards in May, after assisting Bause Mason in transitioning to his new role.

“We’re pleased to be welcoming Thomas to the SMPTE team as a staff member,” said SMPTE Executive Director Barbara Lange. “Not only has he been deeply involved in the standards development process, including chairing several technical committees and study groups, but his IT background lends itself well to our ongoing need to be more software-focused. Thomas has also been instrumental in the creation and delivery of standards-focused educational programming through our Virtual Classroom course offering. I am delighted to have Thomas on board.”

Bause Mason, formerly owner and managing director of Open Media Consulting, began his career in Cologne, Germany, as a computer programmer for automation software in the nuclear and automobile industries. Before his move to Los Angeles, Bause Mason worked at West German Television (WDR) and Cologne Broadcasting Center, where he led the quality control department. In Los Angeles, he became a postproduction consultant and then built and managed the encoding operations for Ascent Media. Joining NBCUniversal in 2005, he focused on emerging digital media technology, spending two years in London to support the company's international business. While at NBCUniversal, he was the company’s lead on the Video Services Forum (VSF) TR-03/TR-04 and SMPTE ST 2110 standardization efforts.

“SMPTE has made great strides in enabling the industry to move forward into the future of media creation and consumption, and I look forward to working on SMPTE staff to keep up the pace of standards development,” said Bause Mason. “The incredible evolution across our industry makes this an exciting and challenging time for media technologists, creatives, and other professionals, and I see an enormous opportunity for SMPTE in shaping new standards and in assisting the industry to leverage the possibilities of emerging technologies.”

Throughout his career, Bause Mason has assisted industry organizations in the development of standards, technical recommendations, and study group reports, and he holds several patents relating to watermarking, 3D, and authentication, as well as metadata tagging. In his work to develop and promote standards for media and entertainment technology, Bause Mason has chaired the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) Media over IP (MoIP) Subcommittee; organized the MoIP Workshop — presented by the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), NABA, SMPTE, and VSF — that promoted the use of SMPTE ST 2110; and chaired the SMPTE Studio Group on Flow Management in Professional Media Networks.

“Thomas has a profound understanding of the standards that guide our industry, and he has played a vital role in their development,” said SMPTE Standards Vice President Bruce Devlin. “We are fortunate to have him join the SMPTE staff and contribute his expertise to the Society’s full spectrum of standards work.”

Further information about SMPTE is available at smpte.org.

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About SMPTE^®

For more than a century, the people of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, or SMPTE^® (pronounced “simp-tee”), have sorted out the details of many significant advances in media and entertainment technology, from the introduction of “talkies” and color television to HD and UHD (4K, 8K) TV. Since its founding in 1916, SMPTE has received an Oscar^® and multiple Emmy^® Awards for its work in advancing moving-imagery engineering across the industry. SMPTE has developed thousands of standards, recommended practices, and engineering guidelines, more than 800 of which are currently in force today. SMPTE Time Code™ and the ubiquitous SMPTE Color Bars™ are just two examples of SMPTE’s notable work. Now in its second century, SMPTE is shaping the next generation of standards and providing education for the industry to ensure interoperability as the industry evolves further into IT- and IP-based workflows.

SMPTE is a global professional association of technologists and creatives who drive the quality and evolution of motion imaging. Its membership today includes more than 7,000 members: motion-imaging executives, creatives, technologists, researchers, and students who volunteer their time and expertise to SMPTE’s standards development and educational initiatives. A partnership with the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) connects SMPTE and its membership with the businesses and individuals who support the creation and finishing of media content. Information on joining SMPTE is available at smpte.org/join.

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