Rob Martorana, my editor at StreetInsight.com, and I had an email exchange the other day surrounding the advances in digital technology for media playback. Rob was discussing his new 30GB iPod with accessories, his new high def cable set top box, and his first experience watching a DVD in the new blu-ray format. The gist of our conversation was that new technology can drive the business for content producers, especially the ability to exploit a quality library of media.
Yesterday,I received another reminder of this when Bernstein Research put out a research report on Corning (GLW) discussing the high likelihood that 70 inch flat screen TVs will be on sale in the next few years. According to Bernstein, an 80 inch flat panel LCD TV would weight the same as a 36 inch CRT TV. Bernstein’s pricing model indicates that by 2010 a 70-80 inch flat panel LCD TV might retail for $3,000, which would be “roughly the same percentage of US average disposable income as a PC in 1996.” Furthermore in 1996, PCs had a “40% household penetration.”

Now I suppose not everyone has wall space for a 70-80 inch TV, but the mere possibility supports the idea that producers of high quality video content stand to benefit as technology advances lead consumers to upgrade their equipment and refresh their libraries.
The winners would be video content creators like Viacom, Time Warner, Disney, News Corp, CBS, and Lionsgate. Multichannel TV distributors like Comcast, Echostar, DirecTV, and Time Warner Cable would also be indirect beneficiaries as consumers opt for broader packages of services that are delivered through advanced set top boxes. Distributors of User Generated content like Google’s You Tube also would benefit.
I’ll be attending the UBS Media Conference in NY next week where I hope to here more about the impact of new technologies on the media business.