The TV world hasn’t been the same since Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced his landmark deal to put ABC reruns on iPods. Portable video will be one of the hottest categories at the Consumer Electronics Show, opening Wednesday in Las Vegas. Dozens of devices and services that promise to take programming off the TV will be introduced.
In his Wednesday speech, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is expected to spotlight a new video download service offering 1,000 movies, including Hitch and The Incredibles.
The Vongo service, from cable TV’s Starz, will cost $9.99 a month. Unlike rivals CinemaNow and Movielink, Vongo’s offerings — in addition to use on PCs — can be transferred to a new slate of portable video devices that Microsoft introduces this week. Movies for purchase are not yet available for the video iPod.
“We worked closely with Microsoft over the last year to get next-generation devices that satisfied the consumer,” says Bob Greene, a Starz senior vice president.
Microsoft’s first-generation video devices — sold as Portable Media Centers by companies including Creative Technology and iRiver — have been out for more than a year, but sales have been underwhelming, says computer industry analyst Roger Kay at Endpoint Technology. Microsoft added more partners and reconfigured the second-generation units to make them more appealing.
Separately, RCA introduces a portable device Tuesday that can transfer movies, TV shows and other content directly from the TV itself. The $399 Lyra X3000 has a 3.6-inch screen and 20-gigabyte hard drive, big enough for up to 40 movies.
The device transfers movies in real time. Later this year, RCA will launch a service with DirecTV to offer transfers that are 10 times faster, by connecting the device to a new DirecTV digital video recorder.
Apple does not attend CES — it introduces products at its own Macworld conference next week. Apple is expected to unveil computers that marry entertainment and digital content as effortlessly as the video iPod.
Jobs’ groundbreaking deal with ABC “brought the concept of portable video to the level the average person could understand,” says analyst Gene Munster at securities firm Piper Jaffray.
Apple has sold 3 million videos since October, and NBC has joined ABC to sell shows for $1.99 each at Apple’s iTunes download store.
Breaking down the video barrier is a big theme for 2006, Munster says: “The traditional way of viewing is over.”
Josh Bernoff, an analyst with Forrester Research, says an even bigger trend for 2006 is watching reruns on cable via video-on-demand. CBS cut a deal to show reruns of four TV series on Comcast cable systems for 99 cents each, beginning soon.
“They’re not portable, but they’ll be on TV sets in 25 million households,” Bernoff says. “That’s a huge audience.”
