ESPN 3D debuts Friday with the opening World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa, armed only with carriage agreements from Comcast and DirecTV. But ESPN 3D is satisfied with its position at launch, senior executives said in an interview. That’s because ESPN is well ahead of where it was, in terms of coverage of homes, when it began ESPN HD in March 2003, the executives 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.

STANFORD, Calif. -- A government investigation of an online outlet’s reporting on the lost prototype for the new iPhone represents a frightening effort to start criminalizing some newsgathering, media and civil-liberties lawyers said. Apple escalated use of the legal system to stifle journalism, in this case against Gawker Media’s Gizmodo site, because the conventional civil remedy of injunction has proven ineffective in bottling up news in the Internet age, the lawyers said late Monday at the Innovation Journalism conference at Stanford University.

Requests to make and sell portable devices capable of getting mobile DTV broadcasts but without analog tuners were backed in all filings on a petition by Dell and LG, and another by Hauppauge Computer Works, in FCC docket 10-111. Commercial and public broadcasters, several CE trade groups and companies like Intel supported the requests for exemption from FCC Part 15 rules that all TV devices include analog and legacy ATSC DTV tuners. That bodes well for quick commission action on the requests, several supporters told us Monday.

LAS VEGAS -- Laser-based front projectors are inching their way to market with a goal of grabbing a foothold as a replacement for lamps in large venues and movie theaters by 2012, industry officials said here Monday at the Projection Summit.

Rovi’s TotalGuide will be at the heart of Android-based Google TV, but CE manufacturers implementing it will likely use customized versions, said Corey Ferengul, Rovi executive vice president of product management and marketing.

Sonic Solutions’ acquisition of DivX will broaden distribution of the RoxioNow video streaming platform as it leverages DivX’s ties to CE manufacturers, Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy, told us. With DivX already embedded in digital TVs, Blu-ray players and cellphones, RoxioNow’s video streaming service will become a key component in CE devices as the companies combine technologies, Ely said. Sonic is already providing the RoxioNow platform for the DivX TV service that expected to launch this fall in three LG Electronics’ Blu-ray players via LG’s NetCast service. And with DivX already embedded in select LG, Motorola, Pantech and Samsung cellphones, RoxioNow gets a foothold in mobile technology. RoxioNow-based Blockbuster on Demand is available on an HTC smartphone sold through T-Mobile.

LOS ANGELES -- The Sustainability Consortium, a research group of retailers, tech companies and universities, is developing standards for “measuring and reporting consumer product sustainability across various categories,” including TVs and computers, Kevin Dooley, a senior adviser to the consortium, said at the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy’s Edge Conference. Formed in July 1990 at Wal-Mart’s urging and with its funding, the consortium has 60 members, including Best Buy, Disney, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Toshiba, said Dooley, a professor of supply chain management at Arizona State University.

Energy use labels on TVs should indicate clearly that they don’t take into account power consumption for additional functions like integral DVD players of the sets, said a group representing U.S. and Canadian utilities. About 6.2 percent of TVs now have additional features, and failing to note this on the label could cause consumers to “underestimate the total energy use of the product,” the Consortium for Energy Efficiency said in comments to the FTC. The commission has started a rulemaking to extend EnergyGuide labeling requirements to TVs and other consumer electronics.

Sales of the videogame UFC Undisputed 2010 have been “somewhat softer than we would have anticipated” since it was released last week, Chief Financial Officer Paul Pucino said Thursday at the Cowen and Company conference in New York. Two other games were released “about the same time,” making “somewhat of a crowded market,” and they're competing for consumer dollars with the latest entry in THQ’s mixed-martial-arts game franchise, he said.