The digital television transition is naturally a big issue for the consumer electronics industry, since they make all those hi-def sets. Yesterday, CES held the panel "Get Ready for the End of Analog TV and Say Hello to HDTV." Cable vet Gary Arlen moderated with David Donovan, President, MSTV, NCTA's President and CEO Kyle McSlarrow and John Taylor, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications, LG Electronics USA, Inc. appearing as panelists. The discussion was remarkable cordial, with all three sectors -- broadcast, cable and CE -- expressing great enthusiasm for our digital future. There are more than two dozen HD programming services that have been launched and, as of June 2006, there were 97 million homes passed by HD service by cable operators.

Tuesday morning, Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable held a breakfast panel on the migration of content to multiple platforms. This issue concerns both operators and programmers, since there are technical issues to be worked out and business models to be built.

The panel included Bill Wheaton from Akamai, Jim Henderson from Comcast, Nick Chakalos from Motorola, Ed Huguez of Starz, and Peter Stern from Time Warner Cable (pictured here). One interesting issue came up when an audience member asked about the future of a media center in the home, that magic box that will control all your entertainment. The two operators seemed a little skeptical about the idea of having just one "box" to handle your content. First, because it creates a weak link; if the box crashes, then you're in trouble. Second, because there are already multiple hubs serving you. Your DVR is a local hub, handling some video, while the headend is also a hub, since it's not practical to put thousands of hours of VOD in the home.