CES: CEA's Shapiro Touts UltraViolet

Studios to promote UltraViolet later this year by offering new users 10 free movies

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/8/2013 12:42:39 PM

Complete Coverage: CES 2013

During a State of the CE Industry keynote shortly before the opening of the 2013 International CES exhibition, Consumer Electronics Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro gave prominent mention to the partnerships with major content providers and brought up studio presidents from Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. to the stage to promote the UltraViolet initiative.

The UltraViolet effort is designed to allow consumers to access digital copies of their DVD and Blu-ray discs and movie downloads on other devices. Appearing on stage with Shapiro, Ron Sanders, president of Warner Bros., notes that over nine million UltraViolet accounts have been set up and that they expect to pass the 10 million mark shortly.

A number of CE players, including Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Toshiba, and Vizio are the partnering with the studios in the UltraViolet effort.

To further boost usage, Sanders noted that later this year, people who sign up for an UltraViolet account later this year will receive 10 free movies.

Also during his keynote Shapiro noted that over 20,000 new products would launched or announced this year at the CES show, which will have  a record 1.9 million square feet of exhibit space.