CES 2009: Complete Coverage From Las Vegas

Las Vegas -- The latest gadgets, gizmos and new generation of technology and development are on display in Las Vegas from Jan. 8-11 at International CES, where industry executives and 2,700 exhibitors have gathered. You can check out all of Multichannel News’s coverage of the annual event, produced by the Consumer Electronics Association, here.


FCC's Martin Opposes DTV Date Move
Las Vegas -- Kevin Martin, expected to be replaced as Federal Communications Commission chairman later this month after President-elect Barack Obama takes office, said changing the digital TV transition date from Feb. 17 would cause consumer confusion. >>>

Comcast, TWC To Flip Tru2way Switch By July 1


Las Vegas -- Comcast and Time Warner Cable executives said they’re on track to enable support for retail devices compatible with CableLabs' tru2way interactive TV specification across their footprints by July 1. >>>


EchoStar's Slingloaded HD DVR Lauded


EchoStar’s SlingLoaded 922 HD DVR, the first to incorporate Sling Media’s patented place-shifting technology, has won a “Best of CES” award from the editors of CNET, officials said Saturday. >>>

DTV Transition Seen Adding 1.7 Million Pay-TV Subs


Las Vegas—The elimination of analog TV broadcasts in the U.S.—currently set for Feb. 17, although the incoming Obama administration is hoping to push the date back—will give cable and satellite operators in the U.S. roughly 1.7 million new subscribers, according to a forecast by investment bank Barclays Capital. >>>

Cisco Gears Up For Whole-Home DVR Trials

Las Vegas—Cisco Systems expects several cable providers to initiate field trials in the second quarter of its next-generation set-top, the Explorer 8600, the company’s first to provide high-definition multiroom DVR features. >>>
Hanks A Lot, Sir Howard

Las Vegas -- Tom Hanks gave his sometime-employer Sony a not-so-gentle ribbing in his appearance during chairman and CEO Howard Stringer's keynote address on Thursday.>>>

G4's 'Best Of The Best' Brings Out Cable's Best

Las Vegas—G4’s CES: Best of the Best presentation has become a meeting ground—and schmoozefest—for cable-industry executives attending the International Consumer Electronics Show each year. And this year, the event’s seventh, was no exception. >>>

Avis Budget To Offer AT&T CruiseCast In Rentals

Las Vegas—Avis Budget Group and RaySat Broadcasting announced a deal that will provide Avis and Budget Rent A Car customers with the option of purchasing AT&T CruiseCast satellite TV service in their rental

car. >>>

Ergen Unveils Dish's 'SlingLoaded' Devices

Las Vegas—Charlie Ergen, chief of sister companies Dish Network and EchoStar, touted his new “SlingLoaded” products and a new $9.99 package of more than 150 channels—for new subscribers—Thursday at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show.>>>


Sony's Stringer Gives Sneak Peek At 3D Entertainment

Las Vegas—Sony chairman and CEO Howard Stringer showed off big-screen 3-D video as part of his CES keynote address Thursday, and said the technology is “closer than you think” to becoming a standard feature of the entertainment industry. >>>

CEA Sees Industry Sales Down 0.6 In 2009

Las Vegas—Consumer Electronics Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro said the industry group is projecting an overall drop in sales of 0.6% for 2009 compared with last year. >>>

Microsoft CEO Says Screens Will Converge

Las Vegas -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in his first CES keynote, said one of the biggest areas of opportunity for the consumer-electronics industry -- even given the current economic recession -- is to converge the capabilities of PCs, phones and TVs. >>>

Panasonic Pushes For 3D HD Standards

Las Vegas -- While consumer electronics giant Sony has garnered much of the buzz over 3D HD production heading into CES due to its sponsorship of the 3D HD broadcast of the BCS college football championship game tonight, competitor Panasonic made 3D HD the centerpiece of its Jan. 7 CES press event here. >>>

CES 2009: Tech & Engineering Emmy Winners Presented

Las Vegas -- The National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences handed out the 2009 Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards Wednesday night at the Venetian in Las Vegas. >>>

EchoStar Unveils SlingGuide

Las Vegas -- Sling Media Thursday unveiled SlingGuide, a new Web-based way to easily find and record TV programming from anywhere, at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. >>>
Dish Introduces SlingLoaded HD DVR

Las Vegas Dish Network Thursday launched world’s first SlingLoaded HD DuoDVR, the award-winning ViP922, at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. >>>
LG Touts Streaming, Wireless HD, Mobile DTV

Las Vegas -- Consumer electronics giant LG Electronics focused on new ways to get pictures to HDTV sets in the living room and some breakthrough mobile technologies at its annual press conference at the CES show here. >>>

Silicon Images Pitches Chips For HD Home Networks

Las Vegas -- Semiconductor maker Silicon Image is angling to set the standard for distributing HD content to multiple devices throughout the home, with the launch Thursday of a chip-based architecture it has dubbed “LiquidHD.” >>>

Macrovision Stream Web Video To TVs

Las Vegas -- Macrovision Solutions is enhancing the next version of the interactive program guide it licenses to TV manufacturers -- code-named Neon -- to include access to Web-based video and a viewer’s personal photos, music and movies. >>>Microsoft Adds Network DVR To IPTV Platform
Las Vegas -- Microsoft is adding a network-based DVR feature to its Mediaroom IPTV platform that will let subscribers “rewind” programs that are currently airing and watch them from the beginning -- akin to Time Warner Cable’s popular Start Over service. >>>

Verizon Touts 100-Plus HD Channesl Across FiOS TV Footprint

Las Vegas -- Verizon’s FiOS TV now provides 100 or more high-definition channels in all 14 states where the TV service is offered, and the telco announced that it has added remote DVR-scheduling features for Home Media DVR subscribers. >>>

Broadcom Doubles 'Wideband' Bonds

Las Vegas -- Broadcom is doubling the throughput of its DOCSIS 3.0 family of chips, providing the ability to bond eight channels together for downstream speeds of up to 400 Mbps in its second generation of “wideband” cable-modem silicon. >>>

MediaFLO Hits The Road With Audiovox

Las Vegas -- Mobile TV service MediaFLO made good on its plans toexpand its service beyond cellphones to new devices by announcing at CES a deal with Audiovox to create in-car video displays that receive the live MediaFLO broadcast service. >>>

Toshiba Taps Dolby Volume For HD Sets

Las Vegas -- Toshiba announced at CES that it will be the first TV set manufacturer to employ “Dolby Volume,” a technology from Dolby Laboratories aimed at solving loudness problems when switching from one DTV channel to another. >>>