CES, which closed yesterday in Las Vegas, drew nearly 150,000 attendees and a list of exhibitors nearly as long as the New York telephone directory, according to ABI Research, which sent several analysts to the show.
In the broadband arena, Michael Wolf, principal analyst for broadband, digital home and media, said the idea of the set-top box as video content "mothership" received further validation as both Motorola and DirecTV announced initiatives to send content from the digital set-top box to mobile devices.
DirecTV announced its own portable video player, then went a step further by offering episodes of selected shows for $2.99 per download, two days prior to broadcast, Wolf noted.
"The flurry of downloadable video announcements shows how Hollywood's mindset has changed over the last year," Wolf added. "These deals, allowing premium video content to be sold online and pushed to a multitude of devices, were impossible a year ago, but now Hollywood sees the need to pursue them or be left behind."
He said by this time next year, the business models will be in place and nearly all top-tier content, particularly TV content, will be available to consumers through the Internet.
Meanwhile, when it came to home networking, ABI analysts said technology companies and content owners continue to embrace home networking. As an example, Yahoo's "Go TV" allows consumers to view photos and video, and listen to music on their TVs. Yahoo will provide a downloadable application and rely on the home network for distribution. ABI analysts also said the announcement of a box with a MoCA chipset was of interest. Motorola's set-top boxes will include MoCA, which allows for IP networking over coax, for multiroom DVR capabilities.
ABI Research www.abiresearch.com
