A new Sony program with warehouse clubs packaging a three-year warranty with EX501 and EX701 series TVs has opened a rift with some regional retailers, according to several merchants we polled. The contention coincides with the arrival of a new minimum advertised price (MAP) policy from Sony. Sony executives weren’t available for comment by our Friday deadline.
Opportunities for 3D broadcasting are seen likely to expand with an updated HDMI spec that adds broadcaster-friendly encoding formats while relaxing hardware requirements for legacy set-top boxes. First hints of the updated spec, HDMI Version 1.4a, came in a cryptic Christmas Eve e-mail from HDMI Licensing (CED Jan 4 p1).
It “will continue to be challenging” for Take-Two Interactive and the game industry in 2010, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said in a Wednesday earnings call. “U.S. retailers haven’t changed their conservative outlook and they're still limiting initial launch quantities,” while consumers “remain equally careful with their spending,” he said.
EchoStar’s software changes to its DVR-equipped satellite receivers didn’t make them “colorably different” from models that a federal jury found infringed a TiVo patent, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit ruled Thursday in upholding a lower court contempt order.
A Maryland bill that seeks to limit energy use of TVs could impact the state’s revenue and small businesses, the Department of Legislative Services of the Maryland General Assembly said in a report. The CEA warned state lawmakers in testimony Tuesday on SB-455 that the state will lose $3.5 million in sale tax revenue and 490 jobs if the measure that would impose California-type standards for TVs is adopted. Advocacy groups accused the CEA of using “scare tactics” and “spreading misinformation” to policy makers on the effects of the proposed standards.
SAN DIEGO -- “Very green” OLED TVs with screens as large as 55 inches are “on the horizon,” and could reach the market sooner than most people think, Brian Berkeley, vice president of engineering at Samsung Mobile Display (SMD), said Tuesday at the DisplaySearch Flat-Panel Display Conference. Sang-Soo Kim, SMD executive vice president, will keynote the Display Week 2010 conference in late May in Seattle, and the forecasts he will give for the faster-than-expected rollout of large-screen OLED TVs will surprise a lot of people, Berkeley said. At Display Week, SMD also will present a “breakthrough paper” describing why it thinks OLED TV’s faster response times makes them better suited for 3D TV than LCD, Berkeley said.
LAS VEGAS - In the wake of Wal-Mart’s proposed acquisition of Vudu, CE makers are bracing for the crossfire between rival retailers seeking supremacy in the battle of video download and streaming services, manufacturer executives said at the Nationwide Buying Group meeting here.
Maryland would lose $3.5 million in sales tax revenue and 490 jobs if it adopts TV energy standards proposed in SB-455, CEA told the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee Tuesday. The bill by Sen. Paul Pinsky, D, seeks to copy TV standards adopted in November by the California Energy Commission. “The kind of performance-based regulation proposed by SB-455 will be detrimental to consumers, innovation, and every business that manufactures, sells and relies on the availability of the highest quality digital televisions at the lowest prices,” said Douglas Johnson, CEA senior director of technology policy.
Electronic Arts has “seen no drop-off, on a global basis, in sales” of its Tiger Woods PGA Tour games since the scandal surrounding the golfer started, EA Sports President Peter Moore told the Morgan Stanley conference in San Francisco Monday. In fact, it’s “seeing, in some instances, some growth, primarily around the Wii,” he said. EA continues to support Woods, Moore said. The publisher has been making golf games using the athlete’s likeness and name for 12 years. “We recognize the challenge he’s going through and feel very, very bad” for Woods and his family, Moore said.
SAN DIEGO -- ESPN “will be a key 3D driver; we fully intend to be,” Bryan Burns, ESPN vice president of strategic business planning and development, told the DisplaySearch Flat-Panel Display Conference in a keynote Tuesday. But if manufacturers start flooding the market with TV sets bearing 2D-to-3D conversion chips to do 3D TV on the cheap, Burns hinted strongly that his company may walk away from its support of ESPN 3D.