CES – Not Just About Gadgets

Get ready. CES isn’t just going to let loose a slew of new gadgets on the market, it’s also going to give big companies a platform for grandstanding on their favorite issues. With presenters including Comcast’s Brian Roberts and the FCC’s Kevin Martin, expect plenty of public positioning and posturing on the digital TV transition, regulations on the cable industry, OpenCable initiatives, the “explosion of HDTV” and the promise of video on demand (VOD).

One could even (and I’m not suggesting this) make a drinking game out of it. One might drink, for example, if one heard:

• [Fill in the blank] delivers the best/most/coolest HDTV programming
• Stats on broadband download speeds that sound a lot better than anything you get in your house
• Reference to the CEA’s just-released report that more than 50% of US homes own a digital TV!
• Promises to work toward open standards and greater interoperability
• Predictions that 2008 will be the year consumers can get TV how they want it, when they want it, where they want it

Got any other suggestions for when to tip the flask?