News Analysis

  CES: Winners & Losers
  Which companies got the
  biggest bang for their buck at
  this year's Consumer Electronics
  Show?
  By Phillip Swann


Washington, D.C. (January 8, 2006) -- 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 100,000 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 show:

Winner
Panasonic
The world's leading Plasma TV maker scored with its display of the world's biggest TV: a 103-inch Plasma TV. Although the set may not be available for sale for months (if then), it was the talk of the town. Nearly every media report cited the 103-inch monster as one of the show's stars.

Loser
LG Electronics
LG's booth prominently featured its 102-inch Plasma TV underneath a size saying it was the world's largest TV. Oops.

Winner
Toshiba
Before the show, the industry consensus was that Toshiba's new HD-DVD format would be dead on arrival. However, Toshiba turned heads by announcing it would launch the high-def player in March with an entry-level price of just $499, hundreds of dollars less than the expected price for Sony's Blu-ray high-def player.

Loser
Sony
Sony seemed to own the new high-def DVD category. That is, until CES. Early in the week, Sony suggested that the Blu-ray player wouldn't be launched until the summer. Toshiba jumped on that news by announcing that its HD-DVD player would be available in March. (Samsung helped Sony out later in the week, saying its Blu-ray player would be introduced in April. But the damage had been done.)

In addition, Sony chief Sir Howard Stringer gave a ho-hum keynote address, saying High-Definition TV would have an even greater impact than the introduction of color TV. That tired analogy may have been cutting edge in 2002, but not 2006 when HDTVs are already in more than 15 million U.S. homes.

Winner
Sling Media
Sling's silver box, which enables you to watch your home TV channels while on the road, was featured in numerous TV and newspaper reports on the show. It's unclear if Sling Media will win in the marketplace, but it was a winner in Vegas.

Winner
DIRECTV
The satcaster made a splash by announcing that it would offer episodes of FX shows (such as The Shield) in advance of their regularly scheduled times for $2.99 each. The move will likely soon be copied by its cable and satellite rivals.

Loser
DIRECTV
However, DIRECTV failed to make a single HDTV announcement, which was particularly glaring at a convention where high-def was the hottest subject.

Winner
EchoStar
DIRECTV's Avis-like rival understood what CES was all about. The satcaster announced that it would add seven new HDTV channels.

Winners
Yahoo & Google
Who would ever think that two online search engines would be stars at an electronics show? But Yahoo and Google showed again at CES that they have become far more than search engines, with announcements for on-demand video deals with major TV players such as CBS.

Loser
TiVo
Perhaps for the first time since its launch in 1997, the Digital Video Recording service was hardly even noticed at CES. The company didn't make significant announcements -- and few people were even talking about it. It's almost as if the industry has already concluded that TiVo may soon become an historical footnote.

© TVPredictions.com
 

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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 Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com or at 703-505-3064.

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