CEA Dinner Draws Industry, Gov't Elite

LAS VEGAS — Top executives from the CE, cable, broadcasting and retailing industries, plus government leaders, were all in attendance at CEA's annual Leaders In Technology dinner at the Bellagio Hotel during International CES.

Both the host for the evening — CEA's president/CEO Gary Shapiro and TiVo's co-founder Mike Ramsay, who was the dinner's featured speaker — discussed the importance of home recording rights and the fair use of content by consumers.

Both men had a captive audience of many Congressional and Administration leaders, cable TV and broadcasting executives. There were more notable members of the CE retailing community than recent Leaders in Technology dinners, due to last year's acquisition by CEA of the Professional Audio Video Retailers Association (PARA), whose president John Flanner, owner of Flanner's, is now a member of CEA's executive board. And electric guitar legend and innovator Les Paul was also introduced to the audience.

As Shapiro said, International CES and the industry provide “a big tent” for all concerned parties to participate. The variety of attendees at this dinner illustrated that fact.