Parks Associates announces new Premier Program to connect with digital living executives at its 2010 Industry Events

Parks Associates announced the Premier Sponsorship Program and the 2010 event schedule, which includes CONNECTIONS™, the inaugural Smart Energy Summit, CONNECTIONS™ Summits in Europe and at CES, and monthly research Webcasts. The Premier Sponsorship Program offers opportunities for companies to participate at multiple events and receive customized benefits and additional recognition throughout the year.

Our conferences focus on core areas of growth and opportunity in energy management, entertainment platforms and services, home controls, mobile services, and advertising. Our events feature networking with key executives and the latest findings from our consumer and industry research. We developed the Premier Program so our sponsors have multiple opportunities to connect with our audiences and achieve maximum exposure as leaders in the digital living space.

Companies join the Premier Sponsorship Program by sponsoring different events throughout the year:

CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase, June 8-10, Santa Clara, is the premier executive event focused on market developments and growth factors for advanced digital lifestyle solutions.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit, March 2010, Amsterdam, focuses on international and European consumer research, with sessions examining new digital platforms, consumer buying habits, and new business models and opportunities for TV operators, content developers, advertisers, and CE companies.

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, January 7, Las Vegas, is the perfect start for CES, with sessions on trends, emerging business models and technologies, and growth opportunities for companies developing products and services for the digital home.

Smart Energy Summit, January 25-27, Austin, Tex., offers a unique combination of market research and real-world expertise in examining residential energy management and smart grid technologies.

Parks Associates’ monthly research Webcasts, hosted by the company’s leading analysts, feature the last data and insight on key digital living categories, including set-tops and connected CE, smartphones and mobile convergence, 3D TV and advanced video services, and future advertising strategies.

Current Premier Sponsor includes RedMere.

For more information about the Premier Sponsorship Program, visit www.parkspremier.com.

Panasonic Debuts Multimedia Audio System Photo Frame

Panasonic announced the debut of its first audio system with iPod dock and photo frame. The MW-10 sounds as good as it looks, pumping out audiophile-quality sound from its built-in CD player, and its FM/AM radio tuner has 45-station (30-FM/15-AM) Preset Memory.

Boasting a 9-inch WVGA LCD, the MW-10 can display photos from a CD, SD Memory Card and internal memory. The 4 GB of internal memory stores image data for up to 6,000 photos. In addition to a full-screen photo slideshow, the advanced display has the following: clock and iPod track menu, calendar and photos, clock and photos, and audio and calendar.

The MW-10 is Energy Star qualified, and its UniPhier LSI integrates all video signal processing circuits onto a single chip, which lowers power consumption and reduces the number of components.

For the full press release, please click here.

Parks Associates Supports Future of Television East

Parks Associates is supporting Future of Television East from November 18-19 in New York, NY.

Kurt Scherf, VP of Research & Principal Analyst, Parks Associates will be moderating the session, "The Convergence of the Internet & the Television: Who Will Be the Winners and the Losers?" on Thursday, November 19th at 11:00 AM.

Worldwide shipments of consumer-electronics devices capable of supporting Internet video, including televisions, set-top boxes, Blu-ray DVD players, video game consoles and dedicated video platforms, are projected to increase 500% from 2009 to 2013. What does this mean for traditional television broadcasters, Internet advertising networks, like Google and Yahoo, cable companies, ISPs, and consumers? Who will be the winners and the losers in a world where consumers can access anything, anytime through the big screen?

Join Television Industry Leaders - including senior participants from major studios and networks, social networks, online distributors, mobile companies, online content distributors, association heads and more!

For more information, please click here.

Television Enthusiasts Can Get Their TV Fix as FLO TV Personal Television Mobile Device Debuts with Major Retailers

Consumers eager to watch their favorite television programs, sports and news while on-the-go can satisfy their mobile TV craving as the handheld FLO TV Personal Television hits shelves across the nation today. The much-anticipated device from FLO TV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, delivers live and time-shifted content via the award-winning FLO TV mobile TV service and will be available at Amazon.com, Best Buy, and RadioShack.

As part of the launch and for a limited time, FLO TV also announced that the first six months of subscription service will be bundled into the overall retail price of $249.99, after which point a monthly service subscription fee will be charged. FLO TV Personal Television is the first portable digital television to offer all these features in one package: dedicated portable television, live mobile TV from America’s best content providers, a dedicated, nationally available mobile television network, a capacitive touch-screen, long battery life, and an easy to share experience. The FLO TV service programming line-up may differ depending on distribution platform.

For more information, click here.

GreenBeat 2009, supported by Parks Associates

Parks Associates is supporting GreenBeat 2009 to be held November 18-19, 2009 in San Mateo, California.

The seminal conference on the Smart Grid, GreenBeat 2009 will bring together leading entrepreneurs, investors, utilities, technology executives, and policymakers to accelerate the development of a leaner, more efficient electrical grid. GreenBeat 2009 is the place to connect with the people leading Smart Grid initiatives, including Noble Peace Prize winner Al Gore and John Doerr. Join the most influential leaders of the national discussion around the Smart Grid, when John Doerr kicks off GreenBeat 2009 with a keynote on the eve of November 18 followed by a full day of provocative panel discussions, roundtables, and start-up company presentations — with the highlight being a keynote presentation from Al Gore.

For more information about GreenBeat 2009, please click here.

Parks Associates Supports IPTV World Forum Middle East and Africa

Parks Associates is supporting IPTV World Forum Middle East and Africa from November 15-16 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

IPTV World Forum Middle East and Africa always provide the opportunity to benefit from established local deployments of IPTV and also meet those from further afield, along with other seasoned attendees from the IPTV World Series. This year, the event once again featured the series’ unique operator-centric formula, bringing together local and worldwide IPTV service providers and telcos along with key technology vendors, broadcasters and systems integrators.

For more information, please click here.

Consumer viewing of movies and TV shows online doubles in 2009

The number of U.S. broadband households watching premium online content, including movies and TV shows via the Internet, doubled in the last year, according to Broadband, Communications, and Entertainment Bundles, a new study from Parks Associates. Currently over 25 million U.S. broadband households regularly watch full-length TV shows online, while over 20 million watch movies online.

The international research firm reports that the growing popularity of online portals such as Hulu.com shows rapid growth in the number of viewers who use the Internet to watch long-tail and premium content. This shift highlights the opportunity for service providers to extend their current pay-TV and video-on-demand services to include online and mobile video features. In fact, providers will have to embrace online video services, including the ability to deliver content across multiple platforms, if they are to remain competitive and attract new subscribers.

Consumer interest in time-shifting content through online portals has increased significantly. Close to 40% of broadband households today watch full-length television shows over the Internet. Enabling access to content anytime through any broadband-enabled device will be a significant challenge for the service providers. However, broadband video opens new revenue channels and opportunities to upgrade subscribers into higher tiers of services.

For the full press release, click here.

Parks Associates Supports TelcoTV 2009

Parks Associates is a media sponsor for TelcoTV 2009, from November 10-12 2009 in Orlando, FL.

Jayant Dasari, Research Analyst, Parks Associates will be moderating the session, "Taming the Streaming Monster" on Thursday, November 12 from 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM.

Visit Parks Associates at Booth # 239 in North Hall B.

TelcoTV 2009 is the telecom industry’s premier event for the exploration of a comprehensive entertainment convergence strategy. Like no other event, TelcoTV brings together service providers of all sizes, with a common interest in transforming their organizations into entertainment powerhouses. The TelcoTV exhibit hall is packed with hundreds of vendors showcasing technical solutions and cutting-edge content to help telcos compete against cable and satellite.

For more information please click here.

Parks Associates Supports Social Networking World Forum

Parks Associates is supporting Social Networking World Forum from November 9-10, 2009 in Santa Clara, California.

This two-day conference is dedicated to Social Networking, Enterprise Social Media, and Social TV, featuring key speakers from social networking publishers, advertising agencies, industry analysts, software developers and equipment manufacturers, pay-TV and network service providers, mobile operators, plus many more.

For more information please click here.