CES 2009: Tru2way Moving Slowly Forward

By Jamie Sorcher -- TWICE, January 10, 2009

LAS VEGAS — Tru2way's evolution into the consumer mainstream is moving forward, but progress on the retail marketing front is being measured in baby steps, according to testimonials from CE companies and cable operators represented at the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) roundtable held Saturday, Jan. 10, here at International CES.

While cable operators have pledged their support, there is still not enough Tru2way product on retail floors to get a meaningful sense of its reception, although Panasonic, which has two Tru2way plasma television sets in two markets now, is pleased with consumer reaction.

Panasonic’s innovation director, consumer marketing group, Victor Carlson said of the rollout in Chicago and Denver last October, “Results are strong, and we’re getting positive feedback. We are two or three months into our launch and plan to aggressively expand tru2way.”

Other manufacturers, including Sony, LG, Digeo, ADB, Funai and Samsung, have signed memorandums of understanding to build products with Tru2way technology.

On the semiconductor side, both Broadcom and Intel are Tru2way licensees.

 However, Tru2way still seems to be in a chicken-and-egg situation.

“We’re pushing the Tru2way brand aggressively so that the consumer understands it,” Bob Faught, Comcast’s retail and alternate channel sales senior VP, said. “As we unfold more markets and get more consumer electronics partners in, you’ll see more of a marketing push from us.”

While the Comcast and Panasonic launch in Chicago and Denver has had a limited focus, Faught said Comcast plans to be in all markets by July 1.

He continued. “We have 125 sales reps across the country and we are very committed to the retail channel, although it will be a challenge going forward especially in the next six to 12 months.”

Added Kevin Leddy, technology policy and product management executive VP for Time Warner Cable, “There are a number of things consumers want more of, like more ability to time-shift, meaning we would need larger hard drives on our boxes. There is a demand to combine internet video with traditional internet video. Maybe that means Netflix has access to our [set-top boxes]. There is demand for Blu-ray players. There is big potential for Tru2way to be part of a device that is also Blu-ray, DVR and Internet connected. That’s a device I’d like to build for our customers. I see this as an opportunity for consumer electronics to put our application in a device that could be sold to the higher end.”