Best Buy Fears Digital TV Switch
biz.yahoo.com
The top executive of Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics retail chain, says he's "very nervous" about the switch to digital-only television broadcasts in 13 months.
Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - News) CEO Brad Anderson said educating consumers and being able to supply millions of converter boxes for older analog TV sets will be major challenges.
The transition from analog to digital TV is "one of the biggest risks our industry has," Anderson told an audience at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The four-day CES trade show, which also included snazzy product demos from the likes of Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB - News) and Netgear (NasdaqGS:NTGR - News), ends Thursday.
Broadcast television stations will turn off their analog signals after Feb. 17, 2009. Screens will go dark for people with analog TV sets who rely on free, over-the-air broadcasts unless they buy a special converter box or subscribe to cable or satellite TV service.
Market tracker Nielsen estimates that 14.3 million U.S. households rely on over-the-air TV broadcasts for programming. That's 13% of the nation's households.
The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration is offering two $40 coupons per household to be used toward the purchase of converter boxes.
Congress set aside $1.5 billion for the coupon program, which will fund 33.5 million coupons and other costs. More than 1 million households have requested coupons since the program started Jan. 1, the NTIA said Tuesday.
The converter boxes are expected to cost $50 to $70. The NTIA has certified 19 boxes.
The agency also has approved more than 250 retailers, representing more than 15,000 outlets nationwide, to sell the boxes. They include some of the largest electronics retailers, such as Best Buy, Circuit City (NYSE:CC - News), Target (NYSE:TGT - News) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT - News).
Through the digital TV transition, the government will free up radio spectrum so it can be used by emergency responders and auctioned for new commercial services.
"The number of converter boxes that is going to be required could put tremendous pressure on us," Anderson said. "We're very nervous about the potential risks. Once it gets turned off, it could be very interesting."
Many homes have secondary TVs that will require converter boxes as well, he says.
Executives with Circuit City and Target agreed the digital TV transition is fraught with challenges.
But the transition presents opportunities as well, says Steve Eastman, vice president and general merchandising manager for consumer electronics at Target. The analog-to-digital switch will get people thinking about high definition and what technology is in their homes, he says.
Target plans to have converter boxes in stores by April.
Dolby Sounds Off On Video
Dolby, the company known for its high-quality audio, is stepping further in video imaging technologies.
At CES, Dolby debuted a new suite of "high dynamic range" imaging technologies called Dolby Contrast. Dolby wowed attendees with demonstrations of the new offering on the show floor.
Dolby Contrast dramatically enhances image contrast for darker blacks and richer colors on high definition LCD TVs that use LED backlighting. Dolby accomplishes the feat by modulating the backlighting with local dimming.
The San Francisco-based company plans to license the technology to TV makers starting this quarter. Dolby acquired the core technology when it bought BrightSide Technologies, a privately held Canadian company, in April.
Dolby took its first steps into video technology with its Dolby Digital Cinema initiative a few years ago, says Ramzi Haidamus, its executive vice president, sales and marketing.
"One of the biggest advantages we have in this space is we have all of these consumers go to the theater and experience Dolby, whether it's audio or video, and say, 'I want that experience at home,'" he said.
Netgear Stays Ahead Of Rivals
Netgear, a maker of home networking products, has managed to take market share from rivals with a torrid pace of innovation and product launches, CEO Patrick Lo says.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based firm introduced 18 products at CES. They included next-generation wireless networking gear, an expanded line of wired and wireless network bridges and extenders, and a family of intelligent network-attached storage devices for consumers.
"Any retailers, any online stores, any value-added resellers always want to sell the latest and greatest," Lo said in an interview. "If you have the latest and the greatest, they naturally come to you. That has always been beneficial to us."
Lo says Netgear's RangeMax and ReadyNAS products are at least three or four years ahead of the competition.
The company's RangeMax Wireless-N routers use an internal array of "smart antennas" to provide superior range and data throughput for computing and home entertainment applications, Lo says.
Netgear's ReadyNAS network storage products let consumers centralize, organize and share all digital media in the home with a simple-to-use system, he says. |
