Charles A. Steinberg, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and Longtime Ampex and Sony Broadcast Leader, Dies at 89

Charles A. Steinberg, a Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and longtime top exec at both Ampex and Sony Broadcast, passed away at the age of 89 on March 12, peacefully and surrounded by his family at his home in Woodside, CA.

For more than 35 years, Steinberg played an integral role behind the scenes at Ampex and at Sony Broadcast, turning the technical visions of industry leaders like Roone Arledge, Jules Barnathan, Don Ohlmeyer, and Ken Aagaard into sports-television realities.

Born June 7, 1934, in South Brooklyn, Steinberg had a passion for engineering that led to a master’s of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1955, he headed to California to join Ampex, a relatively new company that would quickly dominate the broadcast-television-equipment market. Steinberg began his career as an engineer at Ampex, where he was involved in designing the first system that allowed TV programs to be recorded in color on one reel of videotape.

During the next 35 years, he would be involved in a wide variety of videotape innovations. Two-inch tape, 1-inch helical tape, and Sony’s Digital Betacam and HDCAM formats were just some of the tape formats that Steinberg helped launch.

In terms of sports innovations, he played a major role in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics which marked the Olympics debut for two technologies: handheld color cameras and the HS-100 color video magnetic-disk recorder that allowed slow-motion instant replay. ABC Sports’ leaders Roone Arledge and Jules Barnathan wanted to have instant replay that would allow for slow motion and stop motion – and the first development of putting video onto a disk system was no small feat.

The Olympics once again drove technology forward in 1980 at the Lake Placid Games. Steinberg and Ampex turned another of Barnathan’s visions into reality: bringing digital video effects to the electronic still store. ABC Sports and Ampex together developed a system that allowed ABC Sports to take a single frame of video and apply digital video effects.

Steinberg with ABC Sports legend and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Jules Barnathan at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, NY.

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Chairman Ken Aagaard credits Steinberg as “the founder of the videotape replay that we all take for granted today. The technologies used at the Olympics by Barnathan, Marvin Bader, and later at NBC Sports were due in large part to Charlie.”

In 1988, after rising to president and CEO and chairman of the board, Steinberg left Ampex after it was sold in a leveraged buyout and joined Sony, where he was named president of the Sony Electronics Broadcast and Professional Co. During his tenue as president from 1988 to 1999, Steinberg oversaw a decade-long product-development and marketing effort that would make Sony the leader in a new age of broadcasting: digital and high-definition TV.

His responsibilities as President included marketing and development of products and systems for the broadcast and business/industrial markets in the United States. Steinberg was responsible for sales and marketing, operation and technical services, systems integration, software development and technology. Steinberg was also instrumental in the evolution of Sony’s digital storage, camera, display, and editing products and high-definition systems. Steinberg also served as chairman of the board and CEO of Sony Trans Com and chairman of the board and CEO of Sony Cinema Products.

A Brooklyn native, Steinberg got his start at Ampex and was involved in designing the first system that allowed TV programs to be recorded in color on one reel of videotape.

In 1992, Sony launched the Digital Betacam format and, in 1996, built an all-digital production unit used by Fox Sports for the National League Championship Series and World Series. Two years later. Sony Broadcast supplied HD equipment to CBS Sports that enabled the first-ever HD broadcast of a professional football game when the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills squared off on Nov. 8, 1998.

Steinberg retired from Sony Electronics in 1999 and went on to serve as an executive advisor to Sony’s Strategic Venture Investments Group, as well as a consultant and advisory board member to other electronics and venture capital companies.

Steinberg received three Emmy Awards. The first was the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award Emmy, which was presented to him “in recognition of his many contributions to electronic technology during his career at Ampex, and as the president of the Broadcast and Professional Division of Sony Electronics.” The Emmy commemorates his vision, leadership and contributions to the world of digital television. He also received Emmys for the production and broadcast of the first four NFL games in HD and for his technical efforts at the Games of the XXVII Olympics in Australia.

During his tenure as president of the Sony Electronics Broadcast and Professional Co. from 1988 to 1999, Steinberg oversaw a product-development and marketing effort that saw the launch of two-inch tape, 1-inch helical tape, and Sony’s Digital Betacam and HDCAM formats.

The National Broadcasters Association (NAB) presented Steinberg with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its convention in 1999. He was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Imaging Technology and Sound (ITS). Steinberg was a Fellow of The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers and a recipient of the Presidential Proclamation Award from that organization.

Steinberg served on the Board of Trustees for the American Film Institute for 10 years. He was also on the Board of Trustees for the Vision Fund, a charitable organization dedicated to improving the life of visually impaired individuals. Steinberg received an award from this organization for his “superior achievements” and “professional excellence and social involvement”.

He resided in Woodside, CA, with his wife, Helen. For information on memorial services and donations, contact [email protected].

Brandon Costa, Jason Dachman and Ken Kerschbaumer contributed to this article.