“By teaming with SeaChange we are enabling cable operators without OCAP/tru2way deployment plans to increase the breadth and depth of their offering by quickly deploying TiVo set-top boxes that seamlessly integrate VOD in a single, intuitive TiVo interface,” said Tom Rogers, TiVo’s president and chief executive officer. “This solution also enables participating MSOs to take their on-demand offering to a whole new level by highlighting VOD titles within TiVo universal search results. And the beauty of this is that it can be achieved faster and at a lower cost than most solutions that have been available to cable operators to date.”

However, comments made by Tom Rogers at the Deutsche Bank Securities Media and Telecommunications Conference it sounds like this may be included in the retail products as well. Though I’d presume that it would only work with cable MSOs that are using a SeaChange VOD head-end. He also indicated that this would be a relatively short term development, though that’s relative in relation to other major development efforts.

The release explicitly mentions the TiVo HD, and doesn’t mention the original TiVo Series3, but that could just be marketing. The TiVo HD is the current product, and what everyone is focused on – and certainly what any cable MSO would be provided at this time. If it this feature is added to the retail products, and I hope it will, it could show up on the S3. I’m presuming that this implementation will use the Tuning Adapter, currently used for SDV support, to handle the upstream communication required for VOD/PPV as well.

No matter how it is implemented, this is a good thing. Once a working implementation exists, it tends to get a foot in the door, and hopefully more cable MSOs will sign on to support VOD on TiVo. After all, it is revenue for them.

Yesterday Hank, a reader from Spencer, MA, contacted me to let me know that he’d received a notice in the mail from Charter that they will be switching to SDV on February 2, 2008 and that, as a TiVo user, he could claim a free Tuning Adapter on or after January 5th. Spencer is very close to my home in Worcester, MA, where I also have Charter. I haven’t received the notice yet, but it may well be waiting for me when I return from CES next week. I’m kind of hoping it is, I’d like to get some hands-on experience with the Tuning Adapter to see if it works as well as promised.

And today TVBarn.com is reporting that Time Warner has begun deploying Tuning Adapters in Austin, TX.

It is about time, but it is nice to see this finally getting into the hands of TiVo users to allow them to tune SDV content.

Going into this CES I’m not sure what the big deal is going to be this year, if there is one. The economy is down and I haven’t really felt any particular buzz about any given area of the market. HDTVs get bigger while getting thinner and faster (refresh rates). We may see some interesting 3D technologies which will start to enter homes in the next few years. Palm is expected to announce Nova and new hardware, but I’m not excited. I was a die-hard Palm OS user for many years, since 1998, and still carry a Treo 680. But after five or more years of waiting for Palm OS 6 Cobalt Nova I just don’t feel that inspired. I’m already focused on Android as my next likely platform, and it would take a lot for Palm to sway me. Even if they produce an incredible OS, they have an uphill battle ahead to win over developers. I don’t think they have a real chance at this point to gain significant market share. And without that the developers won’t come – and the apps really make the platform.

Going forward I think the mobile market will effectively be, in no particular order, Windows Mobile Professional, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, iPhone, and Android. The original Palm OS is the walking dead, and I don’t see Nova/Palm OS II carving out enough market share to be viable. Symbian UIQ is effectively dead as SonyEricsson and Motorola have pulled out and the Symbian world is focused on the S60-based open source effort. Windows Mobile Standard (aka Smartphone) is rapidly dying as Professional-based touch screen devices move into the lower end of the market where Standard used to focus. I expect Android, which is basically just coming into the market, to post the biggest gains as more devices land. I think the LiMo/LIPS effort will falter and expect to see some of the vendors who have been working on it switch to Android. I think those five platforms will provide the bulk of the smartphone market, anything else will be a small niche.

We’ll probably see more tru2way devices on display from a number of vendors this year, but I don’t know that we’ll see anything revolutionary in that market. I’m hoping TiVo may be showing off their ‘Series4′ tru2way-enabled model, which they’re believed to have been working on for a while. And they may be showing their new DirecTV software, which I expect will be running on the HR20/21/22 DirecTV DVR Plus hardware. I’m not expecting anything else major, maybe some new content partnership announcements and perhaps plans to bring TiVo to more countries. (I’m surprised they haven’t re-launched in the UK yet with the DVB-T model actually.)

The past couple of years the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD fight provided some interest. But that was effectively over with CES2008, and officially ended when Toshiba threw in the towel in February. There aren’t likely to be any big announcements in the Blu-ray world, aside from more content partnerships like LG adding CinemaNow and YouTube to Netflix on their players. Maybe someone will be showing off higher density disc or 3D content concepts.

I’m hoping to be surprised by something at the show, something just unexpected. If you know of something I should be on the look out for, do let me know. And if you’re going to CES drop by the Sling Media booth and say hello. I believe I’m on the afternoons of Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and on Friday morning. I’m also scheduled to present for Sling Media at CntrStg on Saturday. Frankly I’m nervous as hell about that. It has been years since I’ve done a presentation or talk at a tradeshow and never at anything as big as CES.

OK, off to finish packing.

Searching TiVo’s support site I can’t find any references to it anymore, and pages like this one just walk the user through checking their setup and don’t offer any help to reporting actual problems. I try to avoid calling technical support since I’m generally capable of being self-sufficient, and it saves time for both myself and the support reps. But this time I was stymied and ended up calling support as Charter added 14 new channels in my area and I wasn’t getting guide data. Working with the rep it sounds like the very same form that used to be public is still used internally, since he asked me for exactly the same info I used to enter myself.

I don’t know why TiVo pulled this form down, it was very useful. Now users with lineup issues will need to call in. Perhaps they were getting too many false lineup issue requests or something.

Oh – Charter added these channels in the Worcester/Central MA area:
175 OVATN Ovation
298 FBNWK Fox Business
346 MLBN MLB Network
725 WTRHD The Weather Channel HD
726 FNWHD Fox News HD
730 ANPHD Animal Planet HD
731 TLCHD The Learning Channel HD
732 FOODH Food Network HD
733 HGTHD HGTV HD
736 NGEHD National Geographic HD
767 VRSHD Versus HD
768 GLFHD Golf HD
776 DSCHD Discovery Channel HD
794 FXHD FX HD

Charter says their new policy is that if you get a channel in SD you’ll automatically get it in HD as they add them, no additional charge. If they can add HD versions of The CW, USA, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and Sci-Fi I think I’d be about covered – on top of the HD channels they had and just added.

Backchannelmedia’s system allows viewers to respond to ‘bugs’ on the screen during viewing. The remote click sends a signal through the cable system to the back end to ‘bookmark’ content online for the user to review later. So if you see a PSA for adoption and you’re interested in more information you can click your remote, then later when you go online you’re reminded and given the chance to review more information.

I think this is a neat idea – one I’ve suggested TiVo do in the past. TiVo’s interactive ads and on-box content are great, but the reality is some interactions are better via the computer interface. I wouldn’t want to read in depth information about autism on my TV, but I’m curious enough that I might on my PC. TiVo has XMPP in place to handle real time messaging. They could send clicks to a user page on TiVo.com, or, better, to widgets on social sites like Facebook and MySpace, or right to TiVo Desktop – where they could pop open the users browser when desired.

Anyway, in general I like the idea of linking the TV and the computer, each does what it does very well and leveraging the capabilities of the other platform makes a lot of sense.

Press release:

Ad Council to Utilize Backchannelmedia TV-to-Internet Click Through

Interactive broadcast TV technology to be utilized in Obesity Prevention, Inspiring Innovation, Adoption and Autism Awareness PSA campaigns

BOSTON, Mass. November 18, 2008 – Backchannelmedia today announced that The Advertising Council is now utilizing Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet Click Through technology to help connect viewing audiences to more information about the issues addressed by the organization’s public service campaigns. The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization that produces, distributes and promotes national public service advertising (PSA) campaigns on behalf of non-profit organizations and government agencies. Four current campaigns will feature TV-to-Internet Click Through interactivity during Backchannelmedia’s Project New England Market Trials: Obesity Prevention, Inspiring Invention, Adoption and Autism Awareness.

Using the Backchannelmedia system, TV viewers have a convenient way to learn more about various interests by interacting with small, non-intrusive “clickable moments” in both programming and traditional commercial television spots. Viewers click on their remote control and forward bookmarks of their favorite TV content to a personalized and secure web site on the Internet for follow-up at the viewer’s leisure. Backchannelmedia’s technology allows viewers to learn more information about the Ad Council’s campaigns, sponsors and how to get involved in related causes.

The Ad Council is the latest nationwide advertiser to join Backchannelmedia’s Project New England Market Trials, the technology company’s initiative to introduce digital interactive broadcast TV in the New England region of the United States. Consumers are able to interact with the service through the over-the-air digital broadcast spectrum connected to a Backchannelmedia-enabled set-top box.

“Backchannelmedia’s innovative technology is a wonderful way to connect our viewers with the important information available online on how they can get involved on behalf of the critical social issues addressed by our campaigns,” said Barbara Shimaitis, Senior Vice President of Interactive Services at The Advertising Council. “We are very grateful for Backchannelmedia’s pro bono support.”

“Our partnership with the Ad Council demonstrates that the potential applications of the Click Through go beyond traditional commerce,” said Eric Martin, Director of Marketing at Backchannelmedia. “The Ad Council has been a staple for over half a century, and Backchannelmedia is pleased to be able to connect TV viewers with more information regarding these important campaigns.”

About Backchannelmedia Inc.

Boston-based Backchannelmedia Inc. (www.backchannelmedia.com) was founded in 2000. Backchannelmedia has developed technology that can be embedded into existing set-top boxes currently found in many TV viewer homes that allows the viewer to forward or “bookmark” their interests from TV to the online world. That interactive technology combined with the Backchannelmedia Portal on the Internet creates a secure link between the TV and Internet platforms. This secure link can be used to create a richer viewing experience for the TV viewer by linking it to content and e-commerce on the Internet.

Backchannelmedia’s opt-in solution answers TV viewer concerns for increased online privacy by extending controls to the viewer for the TV experience. Backchannelmedia’s patent pending technology can be deployed in consumer electronics equipment, TV sets, over the air receivers, cable head-ends, switched digital video and network DVR technologies, direct broadcast providers, as well as a multitude of devices and delivery providers.

About The Advertising Council

The Advertising Council (www.adcouncil.org) is a private, non-profit organization that marshals talent from the advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to produce, distribute and promote public service campaigns on behalf of non-profit organizations and government agencies in issue areas such as improving the quality of life for children, preventive health, education, community well-being, environmental preservation and strengthening families.

Backchannelmedia Contact:

Eric Martin
Director of Marketing
Backchannelmedia, Inc.
(617) 728-3626 x217
emartin@backchannelmedia.com

The technology works by allowing viewers to press a button on their remote when a small icon appears on the bottom of the screen. This ‘bookmarks’ the content, or offer, which is then forwarded to a personal website which is incorporated into WTNH.com. I think this is an interesting approach, one I’ve suggested TiVo use for advanced content in the past. Some content is simply better presented on a computer. And this could allow less sophisticated platforms, like a non-DVR cable box, to provide a level of interactive content by offloading it to the website.

Generically, being able to bookmark things on a website would be useful in other ways. For example, a number of Discovery channel shows will say things like “Visit our website for more content/behind the scenes/etc”, and it would be great to be able to push a button on the remote at that point and have a link to the content waiting for you on the PC.

The second press release announced that Time Warner Cable has licensed elements of an Enhanced TV (ETV) platform from Broadband Interactive Applications (BIAP). BAIP’s ETV User Agent will be incorporated into Time Warner Cable’s advanced advertising platform. It will allow TWC’s STB’s to run Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) applications, both created by TWC and third parties, such as the TV networks.

EBIF is a multimedia content format standard developed by the OpenCable project within CableLabs, which also developed OCAP/tru2way. EBIF is a core element of Canoe, a cable industry effort to develop an advanced advertising platform for all MSOs. Both the cable and broadcast industries will use EBIF to deliver advanced features to cable STBs.

The press releases are below:

LIN TV Announces WTNH-TV and WCTX–TV to Test Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet Click Through Technology

PROVIDENCE, RI and BOSTON, MA, October 27, 2008 – LIN TV Corp. (NYSE: TVL), a local television and digital media company, announced today that its Hartford-New Haven television stations, WTNH-TV ABC Channel 8 and WCTX-TV MyTV Channel 9, will participate in Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet Click Through market trial.

The market trial, set to begin this November, will test Backchannelmedia’s interactive technology with a select group of WTNH-TV and WCTX-TV viewers and advertisers. Backchannelmedia’s patent-pending technology enables viewers to conveniently interact with television ads and programs and bookmark interesting content and advertisers’ offers to view at their convenience.

While watching WTNH-TV and WCTX-TV, participants in the trial will click their TV remote controls on small, non-intrusive icons at the bottom of the viewer’s TV screen to “bookmark” offers on items of interest in local news and entertainment programming. The “bookmarked” content is forwarded to the viewer’s personal web site branded and framed into WTNH.com for easy viewer access and also logged at a data center, providing valuable information for broadcasters and their advertisers.

LIN TV’s new media strategy is focused on partnering with innovative companies, such as Backchannelmedia, to deploy technology that will engage its audiences around LIN TV’s market-leading brands and generate new revenue opportunities. Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet Click Through technology enables LIN TV to engage its viewers, collect valuable data on viewer interaction, drive incremental revenue, and move viewers between LIN TV’s television and Internet channels.

“We are interested in evaluating interactive television applications for our channels. Interactive TV creates unique opportunities for our new media business,” said Robb Richter, senior vice president, new media, LIN TV. “Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet Click Through technology offers viewers a convenient way to interact with our popular television content, which opens the door to a myriad of more advanced marketing opportunities for our advertisers. We look forward to participating in the market trial and strategically evaluating Backchannelmedia’s cutting-edge technology.”

“LIN TV is at the forefront of embracing new media trends and we are confident that we can provide them with new ways to connect with their viewers and advertisers,” said Michael Kokernak, founder and co-chief executive officer, Backchannelmedia. “Our product is one of the best interactive products on the market today and I predict great results from our market trial with WTNH-TV and WCTX-TV.”

About LIN TV

LIN TV Corp., along with its subsidiaries, is a local television and digital media company, owning and/or operating 29 television stations in 17 U.S. markets, all of which are affiliated with a national broadcast network. LIN TV’s highly-rated stations deliver important local news and community stories, along with top-rated sports and entertainment programming.

LIN TV is also a leader in the convergence of local broadcast television and the Internet through its television station web sites and a growing number of local online innovations that reach 15% of U.S. broadband households. LIN TV is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TVL”. Financial information about the company is available at www.lintv.com.

About Backchannelmedia Inc.

Boston-based Backchannelmedia, Inc. (www.backchannelmedia.com) was founded in 2000. Backchannelmedia has developed technology that can be embedded into existing set-top boxes currently found in many TV viewer homes that allows the viewer to forward or “bookmark” their interests from TV to the online world. That interactive technology combined with the Backchannelmedia Portal on the Internet creates a secure link between the TV and Internet platforms. This secure link can be used to create a richer viewing experience for the TV viewer by linking it to content and e-commerce on the Internet.

Backchannelmedia’s opt-in solution answers TV viewer concerns for increased online privacy by extending controls to the viewer for the TV experience. Backchannelmedia’s patent pending technology can be deployed in consumer electronics equipment, TV sets, over the air receivers, cable head-ends, switched digital video and network DVR technologies, direct broadcast providers, as well as a multitude of devices and delivery providers.

Contact:

Courtney Guertin
LIN TV
401.457.9501
courtney.guertin@lintv.com

Terry Frechette
Lois Paul & Partners
781.782.5791
Terry_Frechette@lpp.com

Damon Hunt
Co-Founder
Vice President of Sales
Backchannelmedia, Inc.
105 South Street
Boston, MA 02111
Voice: (617) 728-3626 ext.102
Fax: (617) 517-7777
DHunt@backchannelmedia.com
www.backchannelmedia.com

Oct 28, 2008 08:31 ET

Time Warner Cable Licenses Key Elements of BIAP’s ETV Platform

PLANO, Texas, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ — BIAP Inc. announced today that is has reached an agreement with Time Warner Cable for the use of its ETV User Agent in Time Warner Cable’s advanced advertising platform. The five year license agreement will, upon deployment of the software, enable Time Warner Cable digital set-top boxes to run EBIF applications created by the operator or by third parties such as television networks. In addition to supporting third-party EBIF applications, the BIAP ETV User Agent will support Time Warner Cable’s newest MDN navigator.

“The BIAP ETV User Agent is a robust application platform that will serve Time Warner Cable well in the deployment of EBIF and properly support our interactive applications and advanced advertising,” said Mike Hayashi, executive vice president, advanced engineering for Time Warner Cable.

“We are thrilled to open a new chapter in our relationship with Time Warner Cable,” said Tim Peters, BIAP CEO. “This agreement we believe validates our EBIF technology and we thank Time Warner Cable for their pioneering work in the world of interactive television. With the advent of the EBIF standard; their groundwork will lead the entire industry into the new and lucrative world of advanced advertising which depends on the wide deployment of EBIF-enabled set-top boxes. It will also usher in a new era of interactive programming that will allow viewers to participate more and to personalize various aspects of what they are watching.”

EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format) is a multimedia content format standard developed under the OpenCable project of CableLabs. The primary purpose of ETV and the EBIF standard is to enable interactivity to drive viewer engagement and participation. EBIF is one of the key elements of Canoe, the cross-MSO advanced advertising platform currently under development. Both the cable and broadcast industries have fully embraced the EBIF standard as the primary application platform to deliver the long-awaited advanced features across the full range of deployed digital cable set-top boxes, including early generation models with less memory and processing power.

BIAP provides for the industry the three essential elements that will enable interactivity and bring the Canoe initiative to a critical mass of homes. These elements include a standard-based ETV Platform which includes the User Agent, ETV platform server, ETV streamer and a development SDK for EBIF application creation. The second element is a portfolio of applications (EBIF) that enrich the subscriber experience but more importantly allow for the creation of user data critical to addressable advertising. And third is an advanced advertising product called Canoe in a Box which has all the standard-based elements (SCTE-130) that make interactive advertising work including the AdAim™ technology to generate ad targeting information for addressable advertising to the individual homes, while preserving subscriber privacy.

About BIAP:

BIAP (Broadband Interactive Applications) supplies the cable industry with all of the critical tools for interactive television advertising and programming. These tools include the ETV Platform, a broad offering of applications and a complete portfolio of products for advanced advertising. BIAP’s partners include: NBC, eBay, Hearst’s Talking Phone Book, and Rasmussen Reports. Applications in deployment include eBay on TV, Fantasy Football, Yellow Pages on TV and PiTV, a local information service that can be personalized. BIAP is currently available on 24 million set top boxes principally with Time Warner Cable and DISH Network. BIAP has received two patents for its technology and has three Emmy nominations for its applications. Corporate headquarters are in Plano, Texas, with research and development in Sterling, Virginia.

Source: BIAP Inc.

CONTACT: Ellen Cooper, +1-212-777-8353, ellencooper@biap.com, for BIAP

Web site: http://www.biap.com/

We are rolling out TiVo beyond the Boston market test, where things are going quite well and we are going to be introducing other cities, probably starting with Chicago in the first quarter next year

This isn’t too surprising as Chicago is one of two cities where Comcast has rolled out tru2way support (the other being Denver – maybe they’ll be next?), and, as Light Reading’s Cable Digital News points out, it is another territory where Comcast uses Motorola hardware. Still no word on when Comcast and TiVo will complete the work to being the software to Cisco/Scientific Atlanta DVRs.

Comcast is also running a new TV spot to advertise the TiVo software:

He followed up in July, and by then the bloom was already off the rose. His patience was low with the performance issues by then and he was experiencing frozen screens and missed recordings. He was already considering returning to the standard Comcast DVR.

Things apparently improved for a while starting last month. The number of glitches dropped and the performance seemed to improve. But then, last week, he was locked out of On Demand and lost the ability to record anything – and that was the last straw. As he sums it up:

My two biggest gripes with the Comcast + TiVo service were its speed and reliability. Setting a recording took anywhere from 20 seconds to over a minute. With Comcast DVR, a recording is set almost instantaneously. Service reliability was the bigger issue; TiVo would regularly freeze up and required to be reset–a process that required me to pull the cable box out, unplug it, plug it back in, and wait 10 to 15 minutes for the service to return–and then re-enter the 30-second skip code for the remote. Other than encouraging me to read more, the only advantages I found with TiVo were its suggested recordings, its ad-free channel guide, and a better organized list of recorded shows, which grouped multiple recordings of a show and all HD recordings into folders.

I’d really like to see TiVo succeed in bringing their software to cable DVRs, but the road so far has been long and rocky. At this point it seems that there is still a lot of work to be done, and some of the troubles may be due to the lack of power in the fielded hardware. The TiVo software is running on top of a middleware layer (currently a precursor to tru2way, and it should be tru2way in time) which runs on top of a base OS, and that means it will be hard to match the performance of a native OS. A solution for this could be newer generations of cable DVR hardware which are bring designed from the start to support tru2way applications, instead of existing hardware that has been updated with software.

There are so many variables involved it is hard to say if the troubles are with TiVo’s software, the middleware layers, the base OS, the hardware, the head-end servers, or something else. So the issues may be out of TiVo’s hands. But in the end it doesn’t matter to the end user, they just want the software to work and don’t care who’s problem it is. So I hope that TiVo and their partners can sort things out and make it ‘just work’, or it will continue to struggle to gain traction.

As a result Time Warner Cable Oceanic of Oahu and Kauai, HI and Cox in Fairfax County, VA were fined $40,000 and $20,000, respectively. I don’t think this is really going to change anything in the big picture. Cable MSOs aren’t going to back away from SDV, they’re not going to stop deploying it, let alone roll back existing deployments. Perhaps it may spur a quicker pace to Tuning Adapter deployments, but as those deployments, or plans for deployment, are already underway I suspect there won’t be any real world impact.

So the end result is maybe a little karmic payback for MSOs who rushed out SDV without consideration for the FCCs rules or their CableCARD users, and perhaps next time around they’ll give it more consideration. But even that would depend on the FCC levying fines in more territories, in my opinion. The current fines are just too small to have any real impact on the MSOs, the FCC needs to slap the MSOs for all the territories in which they deployed SDV before making Tuning Adapters available.

It does make me wonder, since Tuning Adapters don’t work with all CableCARD UDCP devices (either because they lack a USB port or the firmware to support a TA), is simply offering the TA enough to be compliant with the requirement to provide video to CableCARD devices? Personally I think the effort is there and it should be, it is up to CableCARD device makers to support the TA. Yes, it does mean some early adopters are out of luck, but with CableCARD in use in a very small number of 3rd party devices overall, and many of them capable of supporting a TA (like TiVo), it isn’t going to be a large number of users who are affected.

So, in the end, I don’t think these fines will really change anything, certainly not for end users today.

The Moxi 3012 will provide two-way communication with the BendBroadband head-end, however it does not use tru2way but rather the legacy communication channels. A Multi-Stream CableCARD enables dual-tuner support. Deployment is targeted for sometime this quarter (4Q08), we’ll see.

The cable industry is aggressively rolling out tru2way support and all of the MSOs, except for Charter, have promised to have it available by July 1, 2009. Charter says they’ll have completed roll-out by July 1, 2010. So the territory where tru2way TVs will be usable will be rapidly growing in the coming months.

This is clearly a very limited roll-out that is more about bragging rights, I don’t think they’ll be selling a huge number of these sets just yet. The 42″ TH-42PZ80Q plasma has an MSRP of $1,599.95 and the 50″ TH-50PZ80Q plasma has an MSRP of $2,299.95. It is great to see the technology hitting the streets, it is a good sign for the future. We’ll certain to see a lot of tru2way products come CES in January.

The press release has more details:

Oct 15, 2008 16:34 ET

Panasonic Announces Arrival of First Tru2way™ HDTVs at Retail

Consumers in Chicago and Denver Will be First to Experience Comcast’s Video On Demand Without a Set-Top Box

Panasonic Tru2way-Enabled VIERA Plasma HDTVs to Go on Sale in Late October at Abt Electronics, Ultimate Electronics and Circuit City Stores

CHICAGO, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Panasonic (NYSE:PC) , the consumer electronics industry leader in the development and application of tru2way technology, and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK) , the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications today announced the arrival of the first tru2way VIERA HDTVs at Abt Electronics in Glenview, IL and officially declared the tru2way platform active in Chicago and Denver.

Tru2way technology is being used to create a common software platform that will enable cable companies, consumer electronics companies, content developers, network programmers and others to extend interactivity to the TV set and other kinds of devices. The new Panasonic VIERA HDTVs are built with tru2way technology inside, enabling consumers to access two-way digital cable programming, like video on demand, without a cable operator-supplied set-top box. Panasonic and Comcast have worked together to lead the development and deployment of tru2way technology and related products which are based upon specifications developed by CableLabs®, the industry’s research and development arm.

“The arrival of the first tru2way HDTVs at retail combined with Comcast’s activation of its first tru2way head ends are among the most significant milestones in the cable industry and are a huge win for consumers,” said Dr. Paul Liao, Chief Technology Officer, Panasonic Corporation of North America. “At the May 2008 Cable Show, we stated with great confidence that the first tru2way HDTVs would be available for consumer purchase at retail by fall 2008. We are especially delighted to have partnered with Comcast and CableLabs to make good on that promise and bring the benefits of open networks to cable subscribers.”

Comcast customers in the Chicago and Denver areas will be the first in the U.S. to have access to tru2way digital cable service with additional cities expected to go live in the coming months. The tru2way VIERA HDTVs will be available in the Chicago area at Abt Electronics in Glenview and at Circuit City locations as well as at Ultimate Electronics and Circuit City stores in the Denver area.

“We see tru2way technology as the gateway for our customers to experience the next generation of interactive television, and our work with Panasonic to develop and support the first fully digital-cable-ready HDTVs is an important first step in making that happen,” said Mark Hess, Comcast’s Senior Vice President of Video Product Development. “This common platform also will let us develop an exciting array of interactive services and applications that we can deliver on our advanced fiber network to a variety of consumer electronics devices.”

Added Dr. Richard R. Green, President and CEO of CableLabs, “We are delighted to see the arrival of Panasonic tru2way products in the marketplace. As tru2way technology is adopted by operators like Comcast nationwide, consumers can be confident that exciting new interactive digital cable products and services from innovative companies, such as Panasonic, will work seamlessly with any cable network that supports OpenCable specifications nationwide.”

Panasonic’s first tru2way enabled VIERA Plasma HDTVs will be offered in 42-inch class and 50-inch class sizes with integrated tru2way cable receiver capability within the set’s chassis. The TH-42PZ80Q and TH-50PZ80Q will be extensions of Panasonic’s critically acclaimed VIERA PZ80 series of 1080p Plasma HDTVs. The TH-42PZ80Q will have an SRP of $1,599.95 and the TH-50PZ80Q will have an SRP of $2,299.95. These tru2way HDTVs will allow consumers to access all digital cable services such as electronic program guides and the full range of interactive and video-on-demand programming – all accessible directly via the television’s remote control – without the costs or clutter associated with a traditional external cable set-top box.

In addition to tru2way technology, the VIERA TH-42PZ80Q and TH-50PZ80Q feature 480Hz Sub-field Drive for sharp motion image focus, 1,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio, VIERA Link and a built-in SD Memory Card reader for playing back digital photos. VIERA Link allows the consumer to operate all VIERA Link equipped components with a single remote.

About Panasonic

Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America markets a broad line of digital and other electronics products for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE:PC) , and the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North America. Information about Panasonic and its products is available at www.panasonic.com. Additional company information for journalists is available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.

About Comcast Corporation

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK) (www.comcast.com) is the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products and services. With 24.6 million cable customers, 14.4 million high-speed Internet customers, and 5.6 million Comcast Digital Voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast’s content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, ten Comcast SportsNet networks and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast’s Internet businesses, including Comcast.net (www.comcast.net). Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.

About CableLabs

Founded in 1988 by cable operating companies, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) is a non-profit research and development consortium that is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those technical advancements into their business objectives.

™ tru2way, CableLabs and OpenCable are trademarks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.

Source: Panasonic

CONTACT: Chris De Maria, +1-201-348-7182, demariac@us.panasonic.com, or
Jeff Samuels, +1-201-392-4571, samuelsj@us.panasonic.com, both of Panasonic;
or Jenni Moyer, of Comcast, +1-215-286-3311, (c) +1-610-506-8951,
jenni_moyer@comcast.com

Web Site: http://www.comcast.com/
http://www.comcast.net/
http://www.panasonic.com/
http://www.panasonic.com/pressroom

Is anyone else seeing Time Warner offer Tuning Adapter pre-orders in their area?

EDIT: User mtchamp from the InvestorVillage TiVo board snail mailed me his copy of the original flier and I’ve re-scanned the images. I also made a scan of just the fine print, which wasn’t readable in the earlier scans.

The irony is that it seems Comcast is deploying Tuning Adapters in areas where they haven’t started using SDV yet, but will be using it soon. I know, an MSO preparing for a switch before it happens? Shocking! Meanwhile users of Time Warner and other systems that have been using SDV for a long time are still waiting for the TA to be available.

Picked up via EngadgetHD.

(No, I didn’t really expect them to ship, but I was kind of hoping they would because I’d like to see them deliver on a promise someday. And yes, I was feeling snarky.)

However, even if consumers can get their hands on the sets, there is no guarantee that they’ll be able to access tru2way content immediately. The cable industry has pledged to implement tru2way across their networks by July 1, 2009 – except for Charter which has until July 1, 2010. So early adopters may wish to check with their local MSO to see if tru2way support is available before jumping on these sets, or they may find themselves stuck with unidirectional CableCARD features until tru2way support is rolled out.

From Light Reading’s Cable Digital News.

That is, of course, if the numbers are true – and they may not be. See the table below and especially the first footnote¹. Comcast’s numbers for September are estimated to be 10-15% lower than actual due to an internal error. We could be looking at an increase of more than 34,000 users instead of only 2,000!

While 34,000 would certainly be better than 2,000, it still isn’t really setting the world on fire. Maybe the M-Card is a ray of hope in those numbers – if customers who previously used two S-Cards are trading them in for a single M-Card on devices like the TiVo HD, it would result in a lower cumulative number. Still, I don’t expect that’s a huge number either.

This is not to say that the total number of CableCARDs in use is that small, not at all. Since the FCC’s ‘integration ban’ went into effect on July 1, 2007, forcing cable MSOs to begin using CableCARDs in their own STBs, those same ten MSOs have deployed over 7,800,000 CableCARDs in their STBs. So in less than fifteen months they’ve deployed more than twenty times the number of CableCARDs as have been issued for 3rd party UDCPs in the four years they’ve been available.

The integration ban was supposed to force cable MSOs to ‘eat their own dog food’ and thereby improve support for CableCARDs. The idea was that this would help foster the overall CableCARD market. Better support from MSOs would lead to more products, which would mean more 3rd party UDCPs in the field. For the most part, this hasn’t happened.

Why not? Well, I think I can sum it up in one brand name: tru2way. Starting late last year, and getting an official launch at CES in January, OCAP became tru2way and marked a push to get consumer electronics companies on board. Then starting with Samsung in May, followed by a larger push by Sony later that month, CE vendors started jumping on the tru2way bandwagon.

What does this have to do with slow CableCARD adoption? Well, these same CE vendors have held off on releasing UDCPs while they work on tru2way-enabled devices. Why invest in developing and marketing a unidirectional product when you’re going to obsolete it with a two-way product in a year? The first tru2way products are starting to trickle out, and there will probably be a bunch of them on display at CES in January. So I think the push for tru2way was a major contributor to lax CableCARD pick up. Vendors just haven’t been releasing CableCARD-enabled products so there aren’t many options for consumers, which naturally means not many cards are being deployed. Really the only major CableCARD product out there right now is TiVo. CableCARD TVs are thin on the ground. CableCARD-enabled Media Center PCs have had anemic sales. And Digeo outright canceled their Moxi CableCARD HD DVR.

CableCARD was slow out of the gate, and by the time MSOs had the infrastructure worked out vendors were already looking toward round two with tru2way and they just decided to sit round one with UDCPs out entirely. The deployment of SDV and the need to develop a Tuning Adapter, and to support it, was very likely a factor in that as well. I don’t expect to see any real pick-up in CableCARD utilization until a sufficient number of tru2way devices are available to consumers, and then I do expect to see a real uptick.

The filing also has information from several MSOs on their CableCARD pricing and install practices. To compare June to September:

¹Comcast states that their September number may by low by 10-15% due to internal reporting errors.

The count for this reporting period of CableCARDs installed in one way retail devices in active customer homes is estimated to be 10-15% lower than the actual number due to internal Comcast reporting errors that are the result of an internal Division reorganization during the reporting period. The next quarterly report will more accurately reflect the actual count.

Since Comcast has such a large installed base this could be the reason for the seemingly small total uptick. The other four combined yield an increase of 3,429. Comcast’s apparent drop of 1,383 drags it down. But if they’re short just 10% they would actually have an increase of 20,334 users. And 15% would mean an increase of 31,192! So we’d be looking at a total increase of 23,763 to 34,621 – rather more than around 2,000. And that’s just from these five MSOs.

²Comcast allows self-installs in at least some areas – 68% used truck rolls, 32% were self-installs.

³First card is free, fee for additional cards.

⁴$10.43 if install is included with other services, $25.14 if purpose visit.

⁵0.2% of Time Warner installs are self-install, which is negligible.

⁶The average is $2.26, but they report most divisions are $1.75 – which must mean the remaining divisions are rather higher to bring the average up.

The Time Warner DVR box model was free, and the service cost $7.95/month. Also I was excited at the possibility of finally getting high definition content on my Sony HDTV. I asked some friends who used it and they seemed happy with it.

But the reality of the situation was not so rosy:

I can sum up my experiences with the Time Warner DVR in one word: Argh!

Ed enumerates the myriad of issues he experienced with the cable DVR in his article at ZDNet. From the terrible button-farm remote with unintuitive controls, to the lack of a priority list for the DVR’s version of Season Passes, to odd quirks during normal use (like the screen blacking when you pause playback and having trouble resuming playback), and more. And it sounds like his family agreed:

After two weeks of this I decided enough was enough. The family all agreed. We wanted TiVo!

Ed considered paying the $150 repair fee, which would really see him upgraded to a Series2DT with his lifetime transferred. But he’d had a taste of HD and native digital cable support, so he instead opted for the TiVo HD. After ordering his new TiVo HD, but before it shipped, TiVo announced the TiVo HD XL.

Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Ed canceled the TiVo HD and ordered a TiVo HD XL.

I think TiVo should send a nice thank you gift to Time Warner and Cisco/Scientific Atlanta for providing such a crappy DVR. The bad experience helped turn a potential lost customer with a dead TiVo into a high-end customer with the latest and greatest TiVo. Cisco’s bad DVR was good for TiVo.

Of course, back in January Digeo’s then COO, now President, Greg Gudorf told me that their cable DVR would ship by the end of 1Q08. So we’ll see how this roll out goes.

The other Moxi DVR will be a CableCARD consumer product sold at retail and expected to ship in January. That will be a year after Digeo suddenly canceled all of their planned consumer products, just days after showing them at CES and talking up the launch plans.

Details on the consumer product are thin, I’m presuming they’ll have something to say about it at CES in January. Of course, they did last year too. Unsurprisingly it will be a CableCARD-enabled DVR, and it will not be tru2way-enabled. It sounds like they’re pitching all the same features they were on the canceled products – music and photo access, content partners, home control integration, etc. For music content Digeo has lined up FineTune, Rhapsody and Sirius and they have Flickr for photos.

The one new item that I found interesting is that they’re implementing DLNA support. I’d like to see more products supporting DLNA, standards are good and DLNA has growing support across a number of products such as the Xbox 360, PS3, HP Media Smart TVs, Blu-ray players, etc.

Digeo is also apparently still working on their Moxi TV for PC software, which I was told was in beta and close to release at CES 2008 in January. Though according to TWICE they have it running on XP, Vista, and Media Center versions of Windows now, and not just XP as at CES. No word on when it might be available to consumers.

Gudorf told TWICE that Digeo is working on future products for post-July 2009 which will support tru2way. Digeo signed the tru2way accord in June. But I’m not even going to devote any mental energy to that until Digeo manages to ship something to consumers.

Digeo started talking about launching new consumer products two years ago, in September 2006. (Which I picked up, amusingly enough, from an article in TWICE.) I talked to them at CES 2007 where they were showing mock ups and no real products with the promise of shipping later in the year.

They insisted they’d ship in time for the 2007 holidays up through September. (Oddly enough, another article from TWICE. Is covering Digeo a September tradition for them?) Then in November they admitted they weren’t going to ship in 2007.

Then I talked to them again at CES 2008, and they were showing off some of the same mock-ups they’d had at CES 2007, as well as some actual products. Just a week later they canceled the products and laid off nearly half of their staff. Digeo’s Gary Gudorf talked to me the next day to offer clarifications, including that their cable MSO product would ship by the end of 1Q08, which it didn’t.

We didn’t hear anything else until April when details on the cable product emerged. And then in May they exhibited at The Cable Show and issued a press release announcing Charter’s intention to carry it. In June Digeo signed the tru2way accord.

And now here we are in September again, two years after they first announced their intention to enter the consumer DVR market, and they’re promising a box ‘expected to ship in January’. You’ll pardon me if I don’t hold my breath. Assuming they do exhibit at CES in January, I’ll check out their offerings, again. As I said when I covered them this year, I think they have some good design points. But none of it matters until they manage to get a box on retail shelves.

I hear it’ll come bundled with Duke Nukem Forever.

Tipped off by EngadgetHD.

EDIT: This got some attention in AVS Forum, including from a Charter rep, who wasn’t encouraging:

Ironically yesterday I got whispers from a contact in St Louis who works with someone who’s got a beta 3012 (Don’t get hopes up, so far it seems only a few elite managers and tech ops people in St Louis have gotten to beta this unit)

Apparently it’s still got quite a few bugs, which I think is very odd, given really all they needed to do was improve on the existing hardware and leave the software alone.

At any rate I don’t expect to see them in 2 weeks, heck at the rate things are going, I’d consider us lucky if we see them before Q3 2009

I’d say I’m surprised or that this is unusual so close to a planned release – but frankly this is what I’ve come to expect from Digeo. They’ve had one product actually make it to market, the BMC9000 STB series from Motorola running the Moxi software. But that launched back in 2004 and has been out of production for a long time now. At its peak it only reached around 400,000 users, and the number of Moxi uses is believed to be much smaller now as units have been replaced with newer, non-Moxi DVR models. Unsurprisingly the main MSO to use Moxi was Charter, which, like Digeo, is controlled by Paul Allen. But even with it being ‘in the family’ Charter’s use of Moxi was minor.

Moxi’s history since they were acquired by Digeo has been one of failed execution. Early on Moxi was on their way to being a competitor in the consumer DVR space and they had some cutting edge plans, then Digeo acquired them and refocused them on cable MSOs instead of retail. Digeo acquired Moxi way back in 2002 – and in six years what have they done? One product which never achieved more than minor market penetration, and is now well out of date and discontinued. Aside from that they have a history of press releases and announced partnerships, awards won for products announced but never shipped, staff layoffs, and repeated product delays and cancellations. If they didn’t have Paul Allen backing them I don’t see how they’d still be in business. Digeo needs to ship a product, a good product, to significant numbers of users, if they want to earn consumer trust again.

EchoStar is one of the world’s largest vendors of set-top products for PayTV, having shipped more than 53 million digital receiver devices, including more than 3.8 million HD-STBs and 9.7 million DVRs.

From the company’s beginnings as the technology behind US pay TV operation ‘DISH Network’, EchoStar’s broad product spectrum now extends into many millions of homes across Europe and The Americas, encompassing satellite, digital terrestrial and IPTV services.

New at IBC, EchoStar is announcing its arrival onto the Cable TV stage, with the introduction of a global range of high-definition QAM set-tops, including MPEG4 DVR and DOCSIS devices, available with a variety of popular CA and middleware options. EchoStar’s legendary reliability and cost-of-ownership advantages, borne of the company’s network operations experience, offers serious competitive advantage to MSOs and broadcasters everywhere.

EchoStar is also at the forefront of home networking technology, delivering custom multi-room solutions based on HomePlug, MOCA and DLNA. In addition, the place-shifting capabilities of SlingBox and Sling Media, an EchoStar company, are part of the breadth of the EchoStar proposition.

EchoStar not only delivers competitive products to demanding customers but also adds unique value. Our real-world experience ensures the technology works for your business.

Interestingly a press release on their presence at the show really stresses their ability to integrate Sling Media place-shifting features in their set top boxes.

EchoStar Europe is the exclusive provider of Sling Media™ place-shifting functionality in set-top boxes outside North America, with the platform independent solution available for integration in cable, satellite and IPTV STBs. In partnership with Sling Media™, the company will be highlighting the benefits of Sling Media™ software for home networking. A Sling Media integrated STB will provide an instant solution to complex multi-room, multi-screen requirements as encrypted digital Pay TV content can be moved seamlessly over IP using wired or wireless networking technologies to second TVs, PCs, laptops and mobiles.

The Sling set-top box platform emphasises EchoStar Europe’s ability to offer broadcast network operators solutions that differentiate services, increase customer loyalty and potentially increase revenues. At IBC the company is outlining its pioneering achievements in helping develop some of the world’s first DVRs, HD-DVRs and hybrid satellite/IPTV DVRs as part of the EchoStar family and demonstrating its leading position in both time-shifting and place-shifting.

While this is all focused on Europe I think this is a strong indication of what to expect from EchoStar in the US. (And I should say here that, while I work for Sling Media in my ‘day job’, this is just me as a blogger putting two and two together here and not any inside information. Got it?) Keep in mind that EchoStar recently signed the CableCARD and tru2way agreements with CableLabs in the US.

When EchoStar and DISH Network split this was one of the reasons given, to allow EchoStar to branch out into more hardware markets. While EchoStar remains the hardware supplier to DISH Network, no longer being the same entity makes it easier for them to sell hardware to other MSOs who may have balked at buying from a ‘competitor’. EchoStar has extensive experience with set-top box design and production, and with Sling Media under the same roof it gives them the opportunity to incorporate advanced place-shifting capabilities into their products. That should be no surprise as it was a stated goal in the Sling acquisition last year.

EchoStar was also touting their set-top box health monitoring system and advertising behavioral monitoring. Originally developed for DISH Network, but available for all forms of set-top box.

It certainly sounds like there will be some interesting products coming down the pipe.

Disclaimer: I work for Sling Media, which is owned by EchoStar. But a I said above, this is just me as a blogger reporting on what I read from public sources. I almost didn’t post this because I don’t want someone thinking this is backed by inside info, it isn’t. But I think it would be cool.

Microsoft recognizes the impact of this technology on our customers and partners. We are working to enable support for the CableLabs SDV Tuning Adaptor for Windows Media Center Digital Cable Tuners, ensuring that Windows Media Center users will be able to access switched content.

While we have no further details at this time, we will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

While it is good news that MCPC users will be getting SDV support, I’m sure the users with cable systems using SDV would like to see it sooner rather than later.

These claims have clearly struck a sensitive nerve within the Blu-ray community, which, given their strategy as outlined above, is perhaps not surprising. Today the BDA has given me the following statement:

“A number of companies have recently launched advertising campaigns claiming their products deliver high definition picture and sound “equal” to that delivered by Blu-ray Disc. These comparisons are irresponsible and are misleading to consumers. Up conversion and satellite broadcast cannot provide a true Blu-ray high definition experience, as neither is technically capable of producing the quality delivered by Blu-ray players and Blu-ray discs. To that end, the Blu-ray Disc Association is exploring these claims further and will take appropriate action, as necessary, to prevent consumers seeking the ultimate in high-definition home entertainment from being misled.”

I’m happy to see this. Blu-ray has struggled to educate consumers about higher quality home cinema, and now that it is started to gain recognition and traction in the market other vendors are trying to ride their coattails by tricking consumers into thinking they offer the same quality experience just because they’re also ‘1080p’.

Picked up from EngadgetHD.

We first heard about an OCAP SDK from Motorola last June, but haven’t heard much since then. In the meantime there have been a number of changes, not the least of which has been the rebranding of OCAP as tru2way, as well as a number of CE vendors signing the tru2way MOU with CableLabs. Tru2way really has a lot of traction now and we should see a number of tru2way products on the market by mid-2009.

Well, according to Media Experiences 2 Go Motorola has finally released the SDK to tru2way developers. ME2G has a Q&A with Motorola’s Frank Goddard, and there is a product fact sheet PDF available as well. Tools like this will be a major factor in building a successful tru2way ecosystem.

Picked up from TWICE.

Press release below:

Jul 28, 2008 12:03 ET

LG Electronics, Cable Operators Reach Two-Way ‘Plug and Play’ Accord

Pro-Consumer ‘tru2way™’ Pact Clears Path for Video on Demand, Digital Video Recording and Other Interactive Services

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., July 28 /PRNewswire/ — LG Electronics, Inc. today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the top six U.S. cable operators, supporting the use of the “tru2way™” technology platform for delivering two-way interactive digital cable services without a set-top box.

“This pro-consumer pact means that LG tru2way HDTVs planned for 2009 and beyond will receive the newest interactive cable services, from video on demand to interactive programming guides, in virtually every media market and without a set-top box. Equally significant, it will facilitate the development of a viable, two-way retail market,” said Dr. Woo Paik, LG Electronics president and chief technology officer.

Developed by Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs™), tru2way “plug and play” technology is backed by the nation’s six largest cable companies — Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, CableVision, Charter and Bright House Networks — which together account for an estimated 80 percent of all U.S. cable subscribers and some 105 million homes.

Underscoring the significance of today’s announcement is LG’s role as one of the fastest-growing consumer electronics brands in the United States. A long-time supporter of the CableLabs OpenCable™ initiative, LG Electronics is a leading manufacturer of digital flat-panel displays, digital HDTVs and related digital video products.

Dr. Richard R. Green, president and chief executive officer of CableLabs, said, “With the addition of LG — the latest in a series of MOUs our industry has entered into with leading consumer electronics companies — this again validates our tru2way technology, which employs the same Java-based platform used in mobile phones, interactive broadcasting and Blu-ray HD digital video recorders. Tru2way will allow cable operators, consumer electronics manufacturers, content owners and others to work together to provide creative interactive services directly to the consumer.”

Tru2way technology allows consumers to receive interactive cable services, including video-on-demand, voting and polling, games, and e-commerce in integrated retail DTVs without the need for a separate set-top box.

About LG Electronics

LG Electronics, Inc. is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications, employing more than 82,000 people working in 114 operations including 82 subsidiaries around the world. With 2007 global sales of $44 billion, LG comprises four business units — Digital Appliance, Mobile Communications, Digital Display and Digital Media. LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of digital appliances, consumer electronics products and mobile phones under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit http://www.lgusa.com/.

CableLabs and tru2way are trademarks of Cable Television Laboratories Inc.

Source: LG Electronics, Inc.

CONTACT: John I. Taylor of LG Electronics USA, +1-847-941-8181,
jtaylor@lge.com; or Nathan Friedman of Ogilvy Public Relations,
+1-312-397-6009, nathan.friedman@ogilvypr.com, for LG Electronics, Inc.

Web site: http://www.lgusa.com/