Consumers Want Their 3-D TV. Or Do They?

A study co-authored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and released on Friday finds that 3-D TV may be the next big thing. According to the group, 41 million American adults said they've seen a 3-D movie in theaters in the last 12 months (which seems high to me), although interestingly only 40% of those say they'd prefer to see a movie in 3-D over the standard 2-D.

There are some other interesting stats here (thanks to TWICE), but I want to focus on that 40% number above because it seems a bit underwhelming. I'm guessing that when HDTV was first introduced, something close to 100% of the people who saw a show, movie or sporting event in HD preferred it in high-def over standard-def. That seems pretty obvious. So when only 40% of the people who have seen a 3-D movie prefer it in 3-D, that says to me that the technology has a ways to go before it will be adopted in any large scale. 

Unofficial DTV Transition Going Down Tonight

As we discussed last week, one of the odd side effects of the recent legislation extending the digital TV transition from Feb. 17th to June 12th is that Congress gave many of the nation's broadcasters the option to cut over on the original date anyway. There's now a confirmed number on how many exactly we're talking about and it's not small -- 421 stations nationwide will cease analog broadcasting at 11:59PM tonight. When you add in the 220 that have already done so, 641 of the nation's 1,800 local broadcast stations will be digital-only at midnight tonight, or about 36% according to the FCC and TWICE. 

At first glance, this seemed odd to me. The justification for delaying the DTV cutover was that some percentage of U.S. households aren't ready yet. But by letting some broadcasters shut off the analog signals today, what is the message from the FCC? Apparently what the Commission has done is try to have at least one of the "Big 4" network affiliates (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) in each market continue to broadcast in analog so that households not yet ready for all-digital will still be able to get local news and emergency information. This explains why here in San Diego, four of the five major networks (counting The CW) will go digital-only tonight while the local NBC affiliate will continue its analog broadcast.

This whole thing is a bit of a mess, especially considering there are still boatloads of people on waiting lists for the government's DTV coupon. Here's hoping this thing gets sorted out in the next couple of months so that we're not in this same position the week before June 12th...

'The Simpsons' Premiers in HD This Sunday

Long-running animated comedy 'The Simpsons' is set to make its high-def debut this Sunday night and I for one will be sure to set the DVR. More from TV Week.

It's Official: Pioneer to Quit TV Biz

Rumors of the demise of Pioneer's unprofitable TV business were spot-on, as the company this morning announced it will quit selling plasma TVs by March of next year. About 10,000 workers will be laid off as a result.

Pioneer always seemed to me to be searching for its identity in the flat-panel TV industry. At the low end are manufacturers like Vizio (which coincidentally announced today that it will quit making plasma displays to focus exclusively on LCD TVs), in the middle are behemoths like Panasonic and Samsung, and at the top are high-end makers like Runco. Pioneer sought to be at the higher end of the spectrum but particularly once it started buying its plasma panels from Panasonic, it had trouble justifying the premiums it was charging.

DTV Delay Signed by Obama

The most interesting thing about President Obama today signing legislation to delay the digital TV transition from Feb. 17th to June 12th is that something in the neighborhood of 500 local broadcast stations nationwide have already said that they plan to proceed with their own DTV transitions next Thursday as originally mandated by law. Apparently they need FCC approval for this but we could very soon be in a patchwork situation where a large percentage of the country's TV stations require a digital converter to view while others wait until June.

Here in San Diego, four of the five major local broadcasters want to transition to DTV next week while the lone holdout for June is the NBC affiliate.

What a mess!

Pioneer to Dump Plasma Biz?

There were various reports yesterday in both the U.S. and Japan that plasma TV maker Pioneer is mulling an exit from the flat-panel TV business. Pioneer's plasma operations are unprofitable for the company, even though it decided last year to stop manufacturing its own plasma display panels and buy them from Panasonic instead. More from the Wall Street Journal.

Time Warner NYC Up to 100 HD Channels

Multichannel News is out today with a story of the positive benefits of competition for HD consumers. Now that Verizon has rolled into New York City, key rival Time Warner Cable has increased its high-def channel count to over 100 in each of the city's five boroughs. 65 of those are part of the regular cable package that's available to all customers with an HD box, while the remainder are various incarnations of premium movie channels from the likes of HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and Starz.

New York City's other primary cable company, Cablevision, offers about 70 high-def channels.

DTV Delay Passes Congress, Awaits Obama Signature

Legislation to delay the digital TV transition on a one-time basis from Feb. 17th to June 12th passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday by a largely party-line 264-158 vote.  The bill, which had already cleared the Senate, was sent to the White House for President Obama's signature, which will occur today or tomorrow. TV Week has the full story.

DISH Adds Fox News HD, Testing Fox Business HD

Without fanfare DISH Network has added the high-def simulcast of Fox News Channel and is testing Fox Business Network HD, MCN reports. There have been past distribution disputes between DISH and News Corp. that have led to the delay in getting both channels' high-def feeds on DISH's satellites.

Cox Cable Inks Deal for FX, Speed & Fuel TV in HD

Cox Communications has reached a distribution agreement with Fox Cable Networks that will allow it to carry the high-def feeds of FX, Speed & Fuel TV. 600,000 Cox homes will have access to FX HD and Speed HD immediately, with more to come as Fuel TV HD is included in the mix. More from Multichannel News.

Panasonic Losing Billions, Cutting Back

The slowdown in HDTV growth caused by the recession has hit all of the manufacturers, with Panasonic today becoming the latest to forecast a multi-billion dollar loss for this fiscal year that will result in a reorg with job cuts. All told, about 15,000 employees will be laid off and 27 plants shuttered across the globe. Panasonic expects a $4.3 billion loss for the fiscal year ending March 31st.

AT&T Hooks Up With DIRECTV

AT&T yesterday officially announced its new partnership with DIRECTV. Having made public the termination of its relationship with DISH Network last fall, yesterday's announcement marked the beginning of the new AT&T | DIRECTV co-branded satellite service, which the telco giant will market in areas where its U-verse IPTV service is not yet available.

DIRECTV now has partnerships with the three largest U.S. telcos -- AT&T, Verizon and Qwest.

Panasonic Plasmas Getting Thinner, Greener

Reuters is out with a story today from Panasonic, which in April will launch a new line of plasma TVs in Japan that are much thinner than the company's standard plasmas and will require only half as much energy to operate. The skinny, green plasmas will hit U.S. store shelves sometime this summer. In Japan the 50-inch model will set you back a cool 600,000 yen, which sounds only slightly better in greenbacks -- $6,685.