Recognizing the increasing value of the convergence between entertainment and technology, veteran entertainment executive Paul Culberg has departed his position as Executive Vice President Worldwide from Sony’s Columbia TriStar Home Video unit and has joined VM Labs as Executive Vice President, as well as Chief Operating Officer of the company’s NUON group. The NUON technology permits a wealth of new feature sets and performance capabilities never before available in a DVD-Video player. NUON adds a level of interactivity usually reserved for PCs with DVD-ROM drives.

In his new position, Culberg will primarily be responsible for strategic and tactical implementation for bringing the NUON technology to the consumer in partnerships with software providers and developers, many with whom conversations have already been opened. Current deals exist with Samsung and Toshiba to manufacture NUON-enhanced DVD players and Motorola for its NUON-enabled set-top boxes, each of which will be introduced throughout 2000.

“We’re fortunate to find and attract someone with Paul Culberg’s talents, stature and experience,” said Richard Miller, the company’s founder and CEO. “Paul has a wonderfully broad vision of how we can further cultivate the uniqueness of the NUON platform. His relationships in the entertainment world as well as his understanding of how the delivery of content continues to evolve are invaluable to us.”

Culberg spent more than 11 years with Columbia TriStar Home Video. Most recently he was responsible for the company’s online sales and marketing projects for both the domestic and the international divisions. During his tenure, he helped the division quadruple in size to exceed a billion dollar business. Prior to Columbia, Culberg was president of New World Video. He is currently president of the DVD Entertainment Group; the trade organization made up of DVD manufacturers created to promote consumer awareness of the new format.

“The opportunity to introduce the movie and music industries to the rich features and capabilities of NUON was ultimately the reason I made the move,” stated Culberg. “I’ve been around entertainment content for over 30 years and I’ve never seen this potential before. Having seen experiential quality jumps that drove audio CDs and DVD, NUON has showed me the next realized benefit for the consumer.”