Washington, D.C. (January 10, 2008) -- The Consumer Electronics Show is more than a convention. It's an opportunity for companies to position themselves as leaders in their respective categories.

And with the media -- and more than 140,000 attendees -- watching, there's a lot at stake.

So, with today's close of this year's CES, here are my winners and losers of the 2008 CES in the category of High-Definition TV:


Winner
Comcast
In a keynote speech on Tuesday, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts outlined his company's plan for High-Definition over the next year. And it's a bold plan indeed.

HD movie downloads in four minutes. More than 1,000 HD movies and shows available on demand at any time. Portable HD DVR. And so on.

While it's arguable that high-def viewers will prefer HD On Demand to DIRECTV's growing HD channel lineup, Roberts made a strong statement that cable is not going to take a back seat to the satcaster when it comes to providing more HD content.

Winner
DISH Network
DISH President Carl Vogel candidly acknowledged that the company's high-def service was just "ok" in 2007. Kudos for his honesty. But more importantly, the satcaster said it would launch four new satellites this year to expand its high-def capacity to 100 HD channels or more. (It now has roughly 75 HD channels.)

Loser
DIRECTV
Perhaps still exhausted by its series of HD channel announcements late last year, DIRECTV didn't even bother to hold a press conference here. That was a mistake.

By effectively ignoring CES, the satcaster allowed Comcast, and satellite rival DISH Network, to dominate the media's coverage of high-def programming issues.

DIRECTV should have been here screaming proudly  about its expanded HD lineup -- and what it has in store for the future.


Winner
Panasonic
The TV maker understands what makes the media tick. So, by unveiling a 150-inch Plasma here -- and calling it the world's largest television -- Panasonic generated headlines in newspapers across the country. It doesn't even matter if the monster-sized set ever makes its way into a home.

Winner
Sony
The leading company behind the Blu-ray high-def disc almost took a victory lap here after Warner Bros. last week endorsed the format over HD DVD. As the week progressed, hundreds of publications wrote stories suggesting that HD DVD is dead. Or, almost anyway. For Sony, it could hardly have gone better.

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Winners & Losers of CES!

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Swanni (Phillip Swann) is president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com or at 703-505-3064.

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