CES 2012

At last month’s CES, three technologies showed significant progress: connected TV, smart TV and TV Everywhere. It’s likely the three will converge. If so, they’ll arrive in one massive wave that could completely disrupt the way people watch TV — and threaten the way broadcasters do business. Broadcasters must figure out how to catch the wave.

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show was overflowing with TV technology. For the creative, forward-thinking marketer there was an abundance of innovative ways to reach television-loving consumers, and TV broadcasters were squarely in that game with mobile DTV. With mobile DTV, marketers will have the opportunity to establish the deepest connection with consumers through the reach of television, their relationship with local news and entertainment, the interactivity of the Web and the intimacy of personal devices.

In the next decade, 75% of all channels will be born on the Internet. That’s the bold prediction of the day from Robert Kyncl, the head of global partnerships for YouTube. In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Kyncl said the Web is poised to become the premium channel for entertainment distribution within the next decade.

In a keynote address yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sounded a warning for mobile broadband users. “We’re threatened by a looming spectrum crunch,” Genachowski said. “This is the dark cloud around the silver lining.”

The Consumer Electronics Show always offers an enticing mix of new products that will play pivotal roles in consumer-electronics showrooms, new products that will never see the light of day beyond the exhibition, and new concepts that hint at the future of content consumption. Here are a few highlights from the show floor.

At the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday, Jonathan Miller, chairman and CEO of News Digital Media and chief digital officer of News Corp., said subscriptions of Hulu Plus are on a faster track than expected.

Broadcaster-owned MCV and Mobile500 showed devices and apps that they say consumers may use to receive their broadcast-based mobile services later this year. But neither had a launch date or particulars about programming. Meanwhile, Syncbak demonstrated its authentication technology designed to give copyright holders comfort that the programming TV stations put on broadband networks will stay in their local markets.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said on Wednesday that he has received bipartisan support from a group of U.S. senators for so-called “incentive” auctions of spectrum without legislative restrictions.

Sony used the backdrop of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to talk about the company’s plans to revitalize its struggling television division. Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai said new technologies, such as the Crystal LED prototype the company showcased Monday in its news conference, will factor in plans to return the TV group to profitability by March 2014.

The Consumer Electronics Association says the annual show has more than 3,100 exhibitors, up from a pre-show estimate of 2,800-plus. The show usually has just over 2,700 exhibitors, but dipped to 2,500 in 2010. It opened Tuesday and is expected to draw more than 140,000 attendees.

The new GY-HMQ10 records at four times resolution of 1080p to SDHC/SDXC media cards.

This summer, NBC will air 200 hours of the London games produced by the host Olympic Broadcast Services using Panasonic 3D gear. The 3D coverage of gymastics, diving, swimming and other events will be recorded and broadcast a day later.

LG Electronics will sell a remote with its high-end flat-panel TVs that contains a microphone. You’ll be able to speak into the microphone to enter text on the TV for Twitter updates and Web searches. But you still won’t be able to change the channel or control the volume by yelling at the TV.

Apple casts a huge shadow over the world’s largest consumer electronics show as rumors continue to spread that it has its own TV in the works.

Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News Channel, IGN Entertainment and the Wall Street Journal will launch apps for Xbox this year.

Dish Network is looking to make a splash at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — but one announcement, which leaked out prematurely, could raise the ire of ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Dish’s new multi-room DVR, Hopper, will automatically record primetime broadcasts from local stations for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC and retain those shows for a week — in effect turning Hopper into into a catch-up VOD service.

A few things we know — the buzz around 3D continues to peter out after peaking at CES 2010, tablets and e-readers continue to find their way into more consumers hands, and “thin is in” as the hottest TV’s, laptops, tablets and phones will be thinner than ever in 2012.

The Consumer Electronics Association has made an aggressive effort to broaden its appeal and roster of members in recent years, expanding the categories of companies it represents to include automakers, major retailers and medical device manufacturers, among others.

The unit, which attaches to the bottom of the Apple iPads and iPhones, contains a mobile DTV tuner and turns conventional earphones into a receive antenna that can pull in UHF and high-band VHF signals.

What’s generating buzz in the buildup to that technology industry bacchanalia known as CES? The most talk is still around tablets but TVs are seeing the biggest year-over-year gains in online buzz, according to new data from Nielsen’s NM Incite unit.

LG has taken the wraps off its first Google TV-powered television set, even as rumors of an Apple television loom over the industry.

When the annual conclave kicks off next week, organizers expect more than 140,000 people  to descend on Las Vegas. The 2,800 or so exhibitors are hoping to set the tone for the year by showing off tons of tablet computers, throngs of 3D TVs and untold numbers of slim, light laptops called ultrabooks. But a look back at the products heavily promoted at CES in recent years reveals few successes.

At next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, broadcasters will show off the latest developments in mobile DTV, including the app that MetroPCS will be using to market MCV’s Dyle-branded service and Mobile500’s new external dongle receivers that plug into iPhones and iPads and feature a virtual DVR. Other attractions for broadcasters at the exhibition will be smart connected TVs, OTT developments, voice-driven devices, tablets and ultrabooks.