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–Your Comment Title Here–

by Andrew McCaskey
Big Challenge for CEA

Over the Air, plus Digital is enough for me. This CES might well be the final straw that pushes a lot of consumer household out of the television Consumer Electronics mainstream and into an online and over the air mode. It’s equal parts austerity, and it’s frustration.

If you are taking a critical look at your budget - how you spend, what, and why - I’d bet that your cable, satellite TV, satellite radio and DVR are all getting a close look. And compared with the budget item for Fast broadband access - all are on the chopping block at my home. Bandwidth is not discretionary for geeks of almost all income levels, but a lot of the rest of the Consumer Electronics / Content dollar is. Crummy content is going to spill into a lack of hardware and software sales.

Unless the purchase involves computers, unlike most geeks I am firmly in the late majority segment of the consumer market, especially regarding television. The decision to move towards a 42″ 720p screen only 18 months ago is not going to impress anyone with geekly credentials. And, the driver was spouse driven “Flat on the wall” and “what to do about the TIVO” and DirectTV when the conversion came in 2009, not movies, gaming or some other driver. So granted, I am not ripe for an upgrade unless there is some compellng reason (make that content) to incent me to do so.

I’m getting grouchy about content, and if others are like me, that’s having a direct effect on the equipment near and dear to the CES manufacturer’s interests. The packages from DirectTV/Comcast are so full of stuff that I don’t want - the effort to program it out sets up another set of dis-satisfiers. Don’t get me started on XM+Sirius. I don’t even keep up with the RIAA and MPAA’s antics any more, other than to further polish their negative image.

I can get news, entertainment and information online - the only thing that I can’t feed is the background noise wall display. When I could do that easily, it did not bother me. But in today’s economy, I wonder just how much entertainment value I am really geting.

I just hope that the rest of consumers are in a better mood than I am - or that somewhere in the halls of Las Vegas there is something that is worth the most limited commodity of all - the time to watch it.

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