AT&T U-verse TV Inks Deal to Carry A&E HD

AT&T has signed a carriage deal to add A&E HD to the stable of high-def channels it offers customers of its U-verse TV service, inking the agreement with A&E for the HD feed as well as various linear channels (A&E, Biography, History Channel, Military History Channel, etc.) and a VOD offering.

U-verse is currently available in parts of Connecticut, Houston, Indianapolis, San Antonio and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Overall Plasma Shipments Declined in Q4

Market research firm DisplaySearch has released data showing that plasma panel shipments in the fourth quarter of '06 were down 4 percent from the third quarter and up just 3 percent from Q4 '05, despite a dramatic decline in prices. The firm attributes the rather meager growth rate to a loss of market share to LCD competitors.

However, plasma market leader Panasonic/Matsushita saw its panel shipments grow 27 percent in the quarter and Pioneer experienced a whopping 73 percent growth rate. The overall declines came at the expense of Korean companies like LG Electronics and Samsung, both of which registered a sizeable drop in shipments and market share.

It should be pointed out that Panasonic and Pioneer would be considered by most in the industry to be manufacturers of higher-quality plasma panels and displays than companies like LGE and Samsung. Thus I doubt it's coincidence that these two Japanese companies are faring better in the plasma market than their Korean rivals.

Toshiba Pushing HDTVs with $200 Rebate

If you're trying to get your HD system set up before the big game on Sunday, Toshiba would like to help by giving a little back. The manufacturer is offering a $200 instant rebate on any HDTV 42" or larger with just one catch: you also have to buy a Toshiba HD DVD player, although they'll also throw in 3 free HD DVD discs.

The promotion runs through Monday and is available at Best Buy, Fry’s, Video Only, American, Conn’s, P.C. Richard & Son, Crutchfield, hhgregg and ABC Warehouse.

1080p Plasmas Hitting the Market

While nearly every LCD maker offers an impressive lineup of 1080p displays, plasma enthusiasts haven't many options when it comes to screen resolution. That's beginning to change and CNET profiles four 1080p plasmas now on the market, two each from Panasonic and Pioneer.

Is 1080p worth the extra money? If you plan to have the TV for 20 years, then probably so. But I'll let you in on a little secret: at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Panasonic had a display set up where you could compare the same image on a 768p and a 1080p plasma side-by-side. The difference was negligible at best. Even one of the Panasonic engineers there told me that he could really only see a significant improvement via 1080p on just one of the images they were showing.

Smithsonian to Launch HD Network This Year

The Smithsonian Institution is developing a 24-hour HD channel that it plans to launch sometime later this year, according to the executive in charge of the project. Multichannel News reports that the Smithsonian is also working on a video on demand initiative with Showtime that will debut this spring and feature "more than 60 programs produced by some of the industry’s top nonfiction-production companies. The programming will feature documentaries, events and short-subject exploration of the major scientific, cultural and historical events of the day."

No distribution deals with cable, satellite or telco providers yet for Smithsonian/Showtime on either the HD or VOD front, but active negotiations are currently underway.

Retailers Promote Financing, Not More Price Cuts

In advance of Super Bowl XLI, retailers are preparing for the 2.5 million expected HDTV purchases by extending interest-free financing deals in lieu of additional price reductions. TWICE reports that Best Buy is offering 36 months free financing on home theater purchases of $999 and up; rival Circuit City is promoting 24 interest-free months on TV purchases of $499 and up.

From a retail perspective, holding the line on prices by focusing on the financing makes sense given the dramatic decline in HDTV prices over the last year. However, I'd really like to know how many consumers actually take advantage of these interest-free offers, which entail signing up for a line of credit and going through the ensuing credit approval process.

If you feel like it, comment here and let me know if these kinds of deals entice you enough to buy a TV or if you view them as gimmicky and not worth much.

LG: Flat-Panels Hurting Profits

LG Electronics said yesterday that its most recent quarterly profits were down 85 percent from the previous year, due mostly to a 29 percent dropoff in sales from the prior quarter in its digital display group that includes flat-panel TVs. The company does expect sales to pick up as more 40+ inch LCDs are introduced, although price declines will continue to put heavy pressure on margins.

If companies like LG can't make money selling HDTVs now, how can they expect the situation to improve as prices continue to fall? I suppose they're banking on their costs falling quicker than retail prices, but to me it's unclear whether that will really occur, even with all of the new plants in Korea, Japan and China coming online.

What kind of world do we live in if you can't make money selling a $2,000 TV???

Democracy in HD

As has been the case for the last few years, the major broadcast networks and HDNet presented President George W. Bush's State of the Union address to Congress in high-definition, a plus to some of our lawmakers and other government officials (Nancy Pelosi and Laura Bush both look good in HD, although the first female speaker of the House made funny faces during most of Bush's speech) but a drawback for others (Ted Kennedy can't really look like that, can he?).

First HD Service Launches in Southeast Asia

Singapore's StarHub became the first pay TV service provider in Southeast Asia to launch HD service today, enabling that country to join Japan and Korea as the only ones on the Asian continent to offer HD service. National Geographic HD and Discovery HD are the first two channels that are being broadcast.

LCD Maker Westinghouse Lures Biz Clients

In the ultra-competitive LCD flat-panel display business, it's not easy for smaller companies to survive among the likes of Sony, Sharp, Samsung and other big name manufacturers. CNET profiles how Westinghouse Digital Electronics, a Los Angeles-based company that imports most of the guts of its LCD displays from China, is going after the high-end corporate customer with products like an 82-inch screen that is actually an electronic sign.

Cox Adds ESPN2 HD in All Markets

Cox Cable has inked a deal to offer ESPN2 HD on the high-def tier in all the markets where it didn't already, including San Diego and Cleveland. Among major HD service providers, ESPN2 HD now has carriage agreements with DIRECTV, DISH, Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable (in certain areas), Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse. Still left to negotiate are Cablevision, Charter, Bright House and Time Warner in certain markets.

HD Porn: Too Much Definition

An article in The NY Times today calls to light how the porn industry is handling HDTV. Porn has traditionally been an early adopter of new technologies and can even claim some amount of credit for helping VCRs and DVDs take hold. With HD, however, stars in the San Fernando Valley are finding that like their Hollywood counterparts, there can be such a thing as being too close to the action. Sony, the lead company behind Blu-ray, has even gone so far as refusing to mass-produce porn in its new high-definition DVD standard, although others certainly will.

Only Half of HDTV Owners Have HD Service

The Cable & Telecom Association for Marketing released results of a survey today showing that just 52 percent of HDTV owners subscribe to a high-def service that enables them to watch HD content. 34 percent of those folks were not aware that they needed to set up HD service while 61 percent thought that HD quality is the same as a DVD.

Longtime readers of this blog know that this particular issue is one about which I write frequently, and is one that gets me pretty fired up. These survey results don't speak to how many of the 48 percent of non-HD subscribers use an over-the-air antenna to capture local HD broadcast signals at no charge, but other data indicates it is not a majority. The problem here is simple, the solution not so much. Here's the deal:

Right now, when you buy an HDTV at your local electronics store, the focus is on the TV itself. When it comes to HD service, certain stores carry DIRECTV, others offer DISH, some might have a brochure for the local cable company's digital cable product. The issue, however, is that no retailer I know of offers a comprehensive selection of HD service options, both cable and satellite. So let's say you buy your HDTV at a retailer that only carries DIRECTV but you already use Comcast cable. You take no action on HD service at the store and when you get home, you plug your TV in and naturally assume that you're watching HD content. The truth is that unless you already ordered an HD cable box and have the installers waiting to hook it up, you're really just watching standard analog or digital cable on an HDTV set.

Additionally, the sales guys at most big box electronics stores are generally poorly trained on the technology behind HDTV, and even worse on HD service. All too often after they've sold you your new DLP, LCD or plasma, they don't even mention the service options.

As you can see, the problem is fairly easy to understand. Solutions, however, have been difficult to come by. The cable and consumer electronics industries have long been at odds, and it was due in large measure to CE retailers' embrace of DIRECTV and DISH in the mid-90s that those two companies were able to rise as legitimate competitors to cable. Cable and CE have tried partnerships here and there but there has been no concerted effort on either of their parts to make signing up for HD service a mandatory part of the HDTV buying process.

My position is that when you buy an HDTV, you should have to leave the store having either ordered an HD cable box, purchased an HD satellite dish and box, or bought an over-the-air antenna. However, I won't hold by breath waiting for that development to occur.

Tweeter to Focus Retail Efforts on High-End Market

Tweeter, the Boston-based electronics retailer that has recently announced lower revenue and employee layoffs, has decided to focus on the high-end segment of the HDTV market after determining that it simply cannot compete with the likes of Best Buy and Circuit City on price. More from the Eagle-Tribune.

This is a smart, if overdue, move by Joe McGuire, Tweeter's CEO. The only retailers who can legitimately compete on price with the big box guys like BB and Circuit are other big boxes like Wal-Mart and Home Depot. A niche 154-store outfit like Tweeter cannot effectively serve the low-end and the high-end customer and has seen its profit margins plunge trying. In fact, I've read reports that some retailers aren't even really making any money selling HDTVs anymore; it's the accessories and installation services that are now fattening their wallets. That being the case, this move from Tweeter makes all the more sense.

HD Cable Boxes Undergoing Vast Transformation

One interesting development in the industry over the last couple of years has been the evolution of the cable box, formerly the set-top box -- although as this New York Times article points out, it's not really set on the top of anything anymore. At this year's CES, there were companies exhibiting advanced HD cable boxes than you could shake a remote at, including Motorola, Scientific-Atlanta (Cisco), TiVo, AT&T, Digeo, Akimbo and others.

The biggest shift in the cable box landscape is that you will soon be able to buy them in retail rather than leasing them from your cable provider. Whether you will think this is a good use of $800 to $1,000 remains to be seen, but several companies like those mentioned above are betting that you will. The way it will work is that you will buy the box at Circuit City, Best Buy or wherever, take it home and order a CableCard from your cable company. If you ever move or want to switch to a different provider, you don't need a new box, just a new CableCard. The cable companies charge a buck or two a month to lease these little devices.

The problem with the current generation of CableCards is that they are uni-directional, meaning that they only receive data from the cable headend rather than being able to also send data to it. Thus, advanced features like video on demand don't work. The next generation of bi-directional CableCards is being held up due to disputes between the cable companies and the consumer electronics industry. However, the federal government has mandated that by this July 1st, all cable providers must make their services interoperate with boxes from outside vendors like TiVo or Digeo, so that should hasten the process.

DISH Strategy: Free HD-DVR, Lower Prices

While DIRECTV made a splash at CES by announcing some of the 100 new HD channels it plans to add this year, DISH Network decided to focus on what it calls its new Digital Home Advantage Package. The new offer begins Feb. 1st and includes a free ViP 622 HD-DVR with a commitment to a certain level of programming including the $20 per month HD package.

No word from DISH on how or whether it intends to compete with DIRECTV's soon-to-be vastly expanded HD channel lineup. Through its acquisition of the old VOOM satellite Rainbow-1 a couple years back, DISH should have bandwidth capacity for additional channels, although it's unclear how many. It is also worth pointing out that while DIRECTV's announcement overshadwed DISH's, DIRECTV has not yet even launched the two new satellites that will give it the capacity to actually offer the 100 new high-def channels.

As the cable companies continue to migrate to all-digital networks through the digital simulcast transition, they too will begin adding more HD channels, putting more pressure on the satcasters to increase their high-def offerings. Throw in what telcos like AT&T and Verizon are doing with their new fiber networks and IPTV, and it all adds up to a win-win for consumers who should have access to a lot more HD content within 6-12 months.

Samsung Working on Wireless Plasma

A Samsung Electronics exec said this week that his company will intro a plasma display later this year that uses 802.11(n) technology to transmit data wirelessly between the TV and the set-top box or PC. The company also is looking at incorporating wireless HDMI into the plasma, technology that was shown off at CES by Amimon and others.

Some of you may remember that Sharp came out with an LCD display a couple of years back that was cordless, using a rechargeable battery for power. I don't recall exactly how it received an HDTV signal (I believe via a regular digital tuner with an over-the-air antenna) but reviews were pretty mixed on its performance. This wireless plasma from Samsung definitely ups the ante for everyone who's sick of the rat's nest of wires behind their TV, and even though it will still need to be plugged into the wall for power, should represent a promising development.

Another Setback for SED

Canon is buying out Toshiba's 50 percent stake in their SED flat-panel venture, a move made necessary by a lawsuit from a Texas-based company that claimed its deal to license certain technology to Canon didn't extend to Toshiba.

This is yet another setback for the surface-conduction electron-emitter display rollout, which was already dealt a blow when the two companies decided not to display a previously-announced 55-inch SED at CES because it apparently wasn't ready for primetime. Canon has been saying for years that SED will quickly pick up flat-panel market share because of its price and performance advantages over LCD and plasma, but it seems to me that everyone will already own an HDTV by the time this thing ever gets to market...

19 Million Flat-Panels to be Sold in '07: CEA

The Consumer Electronics Association forecasts that 19 million LCD flat-panel and plasma displays will be sold this year. Overall, display technologies will account for $26 billion in 2007 sales.

The CEA also released results of a study showing that watching sports in high-definition is a key driver of HDTV sales. The study concluded that nearly 50 percent of sports fans purchased a HDTV for the purpose of watching a specific sporting event. Among the top sporting events driving HDTV purchases: the Super Bowl (13 percent), the Daytona 500 (7 percent), the NBA Finals (6 percent) and the college bowl games (5 percent).

Giant New Crop of HD Channels Coming This Year

Between CES and the Television Critics Association event, there was no shortage of HD-related content developments this week. DIRECTV, which last year announced plans to launch 100 national HD channels in '07, said at CES that it has inked carriage deals with 70 cable networks for their high-def feeds, including Cartoon Network, CNN, FX, History Channel, NFL Network, Sci-Fi, Speed and USA, the majority of which will launch in Q3. Interestingly, most of these channels had not yet officially announced their HD plans, although CNN and FX were widely rumored to be getting close to a launch.

TBS is also scheduled to come online this year in HD, according to parent company Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner. CNN, another Time Warner company, will launch its high-def simulcast in September, while Cartoon Network -- yet another channel owned by Time Warner -- will launch sometime in the second half of the year.

More on this from TV Week. They also report that DIRECTV may be interested in buying the VOOM HD suite of channels from parent company Cablevision.

HDTVs Supersized at CES

There were a handful of monster HDTVs shown off at CES that I saw: an 82-inch Bravia LCD from Sony, a 100-inch LG LCD, LG's 102-inch plasma, a 103-inch plasma from Panasonic and Sharp's 108-inch Aquos LCD. All are 1080p but I believe that only the Panasonic is actually available for sale today (at a rather hefty $70,000).

LG also announced that it has slashed the price of its smaller but much more affordable 71-inch plasma to a nickel below $15,000, an 80% reduction from its price when launched a year ago.

This one-upsmanship in oversized HDTVs has become the equivalent of the nuclear arms race. No one's actually going to buy these things except maybe a few pro athletes or Hollywood stars, but the manufacturers feel the need to at least prototype them so they can brag about their size. They're pretty incredible to see in person but I doubt we'll being seeing them in local retail showrooms anytime soon.

I'll try to upload some pics I took with my Treo later today.

Warner Scores Total HD Retail Victory

On the heels of its Total HD announcement last week, Warner Bros. said yesterday that key retailers Best Buy, Circuit City and Amazon.com will stock the combination next-gen DVD format that puts both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats on one disc. No word yet on whether other movie studios will hop on board, but Warner is getting some criticism from some in the biz for intro-ing yet another horse in this race.

I say whatever hastens the adoption of high-def DVD players, which will in turn increase adoption of HDTVs, sounds like a sound strategy to me.

More from Reuters.

HDTV All Over CES

I just got back from this year's annual geekfest, the Consumer Electronics Show, and it was quite the spectacle. I'll highlight some of the more signficant developments in HDTV in separate posts, but wanted to say a few words about CES itself.

I think it's gotten to be too much.

I know people who didn't make the pilgrimage to Vegas this year because with 150,000 attendees and almost 3,000 exhibitors, it's simply grown too large. The lines for taxis and shuttles can be as long as an hour. It took my shuttle over an hour to get from the convention center to the Venetian yesterday afternoon -- a distance of five blocks (it was so bad that I got off the bus halfway through and walked the rest of the way because it was quicker).

It's nearly impossible to get a restaurant table. Hotels that normally cost $100 a night get marked up to $400.

And as for the show itself, it's incredibly chaotic. Six separate convention venues make it a nightmare to get around (three convention halls plus the Hilton, the Sands and this year meeting rooms in the Venetian for the first time). If you're in the north hall and have a meeting in the south hall, you'd better allow a good 20 minutes to get there unless you want to be dripping sweat when you arrive. There are so many different little conferences going on within the main convention that it's nearly impossible to keep track of what's what, and where you need to be. And for whatever reason, the amount of swag and other freebies has declined considerably over the last few years to the point where I came home virtually empty-handed other than product marketing packets (which did have the positive effect of making my suitcase lighter).

That said, it's still the place to see everything and everyone in this industry. Company executives often help man their own booths and I even bumped into the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin Martin, at the Digeo booth. For HDTV afficionados, there are more LCDs, plasmas, DLPs and prototypes than you will ever see in your life. There is so much to see and do at CES that it does make the utter hassle of it all mostly worth it.

I just don't have to like it.

First Compromises in Blu-ray vs. HD DVD Skirmish

Two fairly significant developments occurred yesterday in the ongoing battle between backers of the competing Blu-ray and HD DVD standards. First, LG Electronics announced that at CES next week it will be showing off its new next-gen DVD player that will be able to play both formats. We've been hearing rumors about certain manufacturers attempting a dual-format player for the last year, but this is the first actual product anyone's announced. Should be exciting.

Second, movie studio Warner Bros. said that it will actively promote a new DVD standard called Total HD that will work in both Blu-ray and HD DVD players. Over the last couple of years, the Hollywood studios have all lined up behind one of the major formats (although a few are supporting both); this alternative standard would seem to bridge that gap, although it still would need to be adopted by the other studios to gain any real traction.

Why the compromises? In a word, dollars. No one's buying HD DVD or Blu-ray players yet (2006 sales only amounted to a third of expectations) because nobody wants some obsolete piece of junk sitting in their home theater rack for which they shelled out a grand, only to see the other format ultimately win out (my dad's old Betamax VCR comes to mind). Also expected at CES are announcements of significant price drops for players on both sides, although even that may not help sales if consumers see that a dual-format player is on the horizon.

More on these stories from TWICE and CNET.

The Little Guys Are Growing Fast

Everyone knows the HDTV market leaders. Companies like Sony, Panasonic, JVC and Philips have been around forever, and newer U.S. entrants like Samsung and LG have all kinds of history in Asia. However, upstarts like Vizio and Syntax-Brillian are making good headway in gaining market share, even better than much more established and well-positioned rivals like Dell and HP.

CNET has the full story, with good share data from DisplaySearch.

Previewing CES 2007

CNET offers a couple of sneak peaks for this year's Consumer Electronics Show that starts next week in Las Vegas. Among the expected highlights: new flat-panel entrant LED, HDMI 1.3, better LCD refresh rates and of course, even larger and cheaper plasma displays.

This is my 400th post on this blog -- thanks to everyone who keeps reading!

HDNet Showing Gerald Ford Funeral in High-Def

HDNet right now is airing the funeral of former President Gerald R. Ford in high-definition, the only network to do so. It looks quite a bit more regal and befitting the occasion in HD -- nice work, Mr. Cuban.