LONDON -- British global retail giant Tesco will launch a “digital locker” system later this year designed to ensure that when customers buy music or movies on packaged disc, the content will play on whatever hardware the customer owns, the CEO of the company working with the chain said Thursday at the Futuresource Entertainment Summit. The system will be under the control of Tesco’s Clubcard customer loyalty program said the executive, Richard Bron, CEO of Blueprint Digital.

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Trailing Panasonic and Samsung to introduction in the nascent 3D TV category, Sony is taking a holistic marketing approach touting its content, production, distribution and hardware expertise as an advantage over its rivals, senior executives said Wednesday at the company’s official 3D TV launch event at Sony Pictures Studios (CED June 10 p6). The company plans to lead the industry in bringing the best 3D experience to consumers through its focus on quality from the camera to the display with the promotional tagline, “Getting 3D Right,” Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow told reporters. “Other manufacturers may share that goal, but only Sony can achieve it by marrying content expertise with our hardware innovations,” Glasgow said.

LAS VEGAS -- Sony Electronics has installed 3D projection systems for 500 screens it’s converting to digital at the AMC and Regal Entertainment movie theater chains, Alec Shapiro, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the broadcast and products systems division, told us at the Infocomm show. The deployments are expected to produce sales of more than 10,000 units of Sony’s SXRD LCoS-based front projectors, Shapiro said.

LAS VEGAS -- Having whetted consumer appetites in movie theaters, 3D front projectors will inch into homes, offices and classrooms this year, as sales hit 1 million units, Pacific Media Associates President William Cogshall said at the Projection Summit. Sales will increase to 4.5 million units by 2013 and 5.3 million units a year later, Cogshall said.

The first stereoscopic 3D game from Take-Two Interactive will be the PC version of Mafia 2, shipping Aug. 24 by its 2K Games division, the publisher said. The PC SKU will use Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology to achieve the stereoscopic effects, CEO Ben Feder said in a Tuesday earnings call.

An FCC draft rulemaking proposes a 2012 deadline for U.S. low-power stations to switch to all-digital broadcasts, agency and industry officials said. That deadline was proposed in 2008 by then-Chairman Kevin Martin, but scuttled by other commissioners (CED Feb 27 p3), and now has been revived by current Chairman Julius Genachowski, agency and industry officials said. The draft asks whether a later date ought to be set, an official said. Low-power stations won’t likely be able to go all-digital in two years, said lawyer Peter Tannenwald of Fletcher Heald, who represents low-power broadcasters that have gone all-digital.

ESPN 3D’s initial start on cable has been limited by some operators’ reluctance to carry the network as they weigh the costs associated with it against the limited number of 3D TV sets in the market and the technical challenges related to acquiring the programming, industry executives said. Comcast will carry the network, but others are still making up their minds.

E-waste and proposed changes to Energy Star were among the biggest environmental lobbying issues for electronics makers and trade associations in Q1, according to disclosure reports filed with Congress. With Congress taking up several environmental measures, the CEA has been “monitoring to see if they touch on products,” said Amy Dempster, senior manager of government affairs and environmental policy.

LeapFrog expects to return to profitability this year through growth partly from expanding distribution “to other footprints” beyond conventional toy retailers, CEO William Chiasson said Tuesday at the Piper Jaffray Consumer Conference in New York. The expansion includes a greater presence at Best Buy, which is “going to be carrying a lot of our mobile learning electronic devices,” and Barnes & Noble, he said.

DirecTV’s launch of ESPN 3D Friday, and later additions of other 3D programming this month, will help differentiate the company from other TV providers as an early adopter of the technology, said Steven Roberts, senior vice president of new media and business development, who’s overseeing the 3D effort for DirecTV. Extensive work with TV manufacturers will allow the company to remain at the forefront of TV technology, as it did with HD, he said. Dish will also begin to offer 3D later this year, but opted not to sign up now for ESPN 3D, said a Dish executive.