Sony CES Strategy Includes Seinfeld

LOS ANGELES, November
15: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) solidified its move away from NATPE and into
the giant Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by landing comedian Jerry Seinfeld,
who will perform on stage at the company’s presentation at the event in Las
Vegas on January 7, 2008.

The Sony shindig will
also feature singer Tony Bennett as well as SPT players like Power of Ten host Drew Carey, Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White, and Jeopardy host Alex Trebek. The latter will be master of ceremonies.

Sony’s presence at CES
marks a major change in strategy for the company, which last summer announced
it would showcase its content at the giant consumer show rather than at the
smaller NATPE, which takes place in the same city two weeks later.

SPT chief executive
Steve Mosko has said that he considers Sony much more than a syndication
company, and that there are far more new-media opportunities at CES than at
NATPE. The earlier show attracts members not only of the consumer electronics
community but also droves of executives who handle content development and
acquisition for the mobile, cable and internet sectors.

It has been estimated
that by abandoning its large booth at NATPE, STP will save over $3 million,
freeing up funds for its new 25,000 square-foot presence at CES. Sony is the
first major Hollywood studio to showcase its content at the CES convention in
2008.

But Sony may not be the
only content company casting its fate with CES rather than NATPE. Last Tuesday
in New York, CES president and CEO Gary Shapiro was joined at a press
conference by executives from NBC Universal (NBCU) as well as Sony Pictures
Television. At the event it was announced that NBCU will be CES’s “broadcast
partner.”

STP will be exhibiting
at CES alongside sister company Sony Electronics. NBCU, which will maintain its
presence at NATPE, will be exhibiting at CES for the first time. Many of its
news and magazine shows will broadcast from the convention floor.

While NATPE continues to
hold on to syndication exhibitors, that business is shrinking. By contrast, the
digital distribution business is growing, and CES appears to be capturing much
of it.

Last month NATPE
suffered a setback when CBS Television Distribution said it would skip this
year’s event. Another blow came when Fox Broadcasting decided to move its
annual affiliate meeting to March, rather than hold it at NATPE in January.

NATPE president Rick
Feldman said that there’s enough room in the industry for both events. He
stressed that CES is a technology show with content on the side, whereas NATPE
is a content show with technology on the side.

—By Peter Caranicas