IP Democracy: CES: DVDs, Home Networking and Content

I’m already overwhelmed (and yet slightly bored) with the news coming out of CES and the show doesn’t begin until Sunday. But in the race to pull ahead of the pack, so many companies are planting their stories ahead of time to ensure they don’t get lost in the massive, and mostly forgettable, coverage of the world’s largest trade show.

We already know that one hot topic at CES is the rivalry between HD formats, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. But, two other major themes have emerged from all the pre-show coverage.

The BBC’s Darren Waters has this pretty good overview piece highlighting the home networking crush of announcements at the show, many of which will center on getting video from the PC to the TV. (BTW, the BBC and Waters are psyched about CES — they’ve even put up a blog devoted to the show. The most interesting item on the BBC’s CES blog is a description of the BBC’s decision to send someone —Waters— to cover the show for the first time in 1999.)

The gargantuan event is even swallowing up the entertainment industry, as this piece from AP’s May Wong discusses. CES used to be about gizmos and gadgets, but now the studios, cable industry, phone companies, TV syndicators, you name it, all show up in force.

“It gives you pause to reflect what CES has become and what it means to our company,” CBS President Leslie Moonves said. “It used to be one would go to see what the cool gadgets were. Now one goes there to see what cool gadgets are going to use our content and who the various players are that we’re going to be heading into the new era with.”

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 5, 2007 11:17 AM to IP Democracy