Insight Media held it’s first HDTV Business Conference at the MGM Grand on January 4th.

Response from attendees was quite positive as speakers and panelists discussed new business opportunities and the challenges facing manufacturers of HDTVs. A number of new announcements were made, as well.

Chris Chinnock
Sr. Analyst and Sr. Editor
of Insight Media

The speakers seemed ebullient about the progress HDTV has made in the past year, but noted that some challenges remain. On the positive side, several obstacles that hampered HDTV growth have been overcome. Many speakers argued that the price and functionality of HDTV displays and production equipment was no longer a serious impediment, and the availability of HDTV content from the many networks and service providers was extensive. HDTV household penetration is increasing dramatically, according to CEA numbers.

On the content production side, challenges include education of consumers about the extensive availability of HD content, quality control of this distributed content and the remaining holes in HD content - news and reality shows. But this will fall as lower cost cameras will create more and more HD content. Speakers from CBS and ESPN echoed these themes with ESPN’s Bryan Burns declaring the overcoming of two HDTV roadblocks: affordable HDTVs and HD content availability.

New ways to receive digital content was also a hot topic of discussion with MediaFLO, a division of Qualcomm explaining how it will aggregate content, establish transmission infrastructure and roll out mobile TV with it service provider customers by Q4′06. Microsoft explained why IPTV will enable delivery of video over broadband data networks by both cable MSO and telcos.

Updates on the status of HD DVD and Blue-ray Disc were a highlight later in the morning as speakers defending why packaged media will remain relevant as new options like DVRs, flash memory, video-on-demand and mobile video offer competitive options for movie delivery. HD DVD representative Mark Knox hinted of rapid progress from the HD DVD camp, which was verified at a later press event, where major new movies were announced for spring release. Players from several companies will be available, too. All acknowledged the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc is format war, not a manufacturing problem.

Major large screen display technology vendors continue to vie for dominance. In a panel discussion, representatives from LCD, PDP and MD-RP TVs each showed projections of their own technology dominance by the end of the decade, to the confusion of some of the attendees. In the meanwhile, consumer trends continue to demand ever-larger displays and lower prices. The speakers confirmed that plasma has the best consumer buzz, but LCD has enjoyed the highest growth rate (41.5% CAGR - including smaller sized displays).

TI used the HDTV Business Conference to announce their new smaller imagers for RP displays. Diguong announced and showed their new LED-backlit LCD-TV and ESPN announced their new advertisers program that will simulcast HD and SD commercials on all their channels, 24/7. This initiative is about 85% push from ESPN, now that their world’s largest HD production facility, and 15% pull from the advertisers.

Many, especially the IT companies, represented by HP and Intel agreed that the TV set will become increasingly the “nerve center” of the house. HP laid out a particularly compelling view of this household, but style remains a key element. This point was emphasized by Tweeter CEO, Joe McGuire, who cautioned that HDTVs are being bought “more like fashion” than technology.