2. 2—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014
"have its case sort of heard" during the same proceeding because it will be affected by the outcome in the
Aereo case, he said. If that request is turned down, FilmOn X may file an amicus brief "in support of Fil-
mOn's position" in the case and the technology at issue, he said. That brief "would not explicitly support
Aereo," he said. FilmOn X's "position on copyright is different" than Aereo's, "and in fact our technology
is considerably more evolved in how it deals with access to our antenna arrays, therefore we expect the
Court to treat us separately," CEO David said by email Wednesday.
FilmOn X sees the dispute with broadcasters as more than just interpreting one sentence in the
Transmit Clause of the Copyright Act, as panelists at the meeting had suggested, David said in the Skype
transmission Tuesday. "Broadcasters get their license to be broadcasters and to have the spectrum that
they have on the basis that they offer a free public service," he said. "The facts have been obscured" by
the broadcasters, he said.
Some judges also seem to "already have their minds made up" about new technologies like FilmOn
X’s and Aereo’s "before going into the courtroom," David said, singling out comments made by 2nd Cir-
cuit Judge Denny Chin in his dissenting opinion in the Aereo case. FilmOn X’s technology is "legal" and
"not a loophole" to the Transmit Clause, he said. David is open to sitting down to talk with broadcasters
about negotiating a fair licensing deal, but will accept "only what is fair," he said. "You can not steal
something that is given away for free," and it is "absolutely necessary that free-to-air television is made
available" to all consumers, he said.
FilmOn X and Aereo "probably serve different customers" because FilmOn X customers tend
to be males 18-40 years old, while the average age of the network TV audience is "50-plus," said
David. FilmOn X will be "rolling out a new technology within the next week" that he said "sits on
top" of its "micro antenna technology which will give independent broadcasters a whole new world of
distribution" globally "based on what we’re doing," he said. More details will be revealed in a coming
announcement, he said.
Panelists at the meeting debating the battle for over-the-air TV retransmissions expressed some
surprise that the Supreme Court granted cert on broadcasters' appeal of their case seeking a preliminary
injunction against Aereo (CED Jan 13 p1). But "there are big implications" in the case, said Barry Wer-
bin, a partner at New York law firm Herrick, Feinstein, who specializes in intellectual property and Inter-
net issues.
It was also "pretty unusual" that Aereo filed a brief that was essentially in favor of the broadcast-
ers’ petition to the Supreme Court, said Werbin. But clearly Aereo wanted to put an end to the long court
battle with broadcasters and "have some finality one way or another," despite the "risk," he said. Though
the broadcasters’ petition asked the court to overturn a 2nd Circuit decision that was in Aereo’s favor, Ae-
reo had also asked for cert to be granted, and Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said he welcomed the chance to
bring the case before the justices.
The Aereo and FilmOn X cases "really boil down to trying to decipher Congress’s intent behind
really very few words" that were used in the Transmit Clause, said Werbin. He asked panelists whether
Congress may have "missed the boat" when it enacted the amended 1976 Copyright Act or if Congress
just didn’t have the "possible foresight to see where" we would be today with technology and the Internet.
"I don’t think it’s fair to say" that Congress "missed the boat," said Matthew Schruers, vice
president-law and policy at the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose
3. THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—3
membership includes Aereo. "Clearly Congress intended a broad construction of technologies to be
covered," but it "didn’t really anticipate what the words it was using were going to mean," he said.
Most of the Copyright Act was written in the 1960s, when the word "perform" had a "very different
meaning" than it does now with the widespread use of cloud-related services, he said. Congress
"really didn’t appreciate" in 1976 "what it would mean that we could perform works privately" via the
use of online services, he said. The Aereo court battle "isn’t really a case about Aereo; it’s a case
about what it means to perform something," he said. If playing content via a DVR does not represent
a performance to the public, "then adding an antenna onto that DVR does not make what was previ-
ously a private performance now a public performance," he said. CCIA filed an amicus brief on Ae-
reo’s behalf in the company’s battle against broadcasters.
Despite what seems to be "relatively straightforward language, we have a pretty huge variety of
opinions" on what the Transmit Clause covers, said Howard Homonoff, managing director of Homonoff
Media Group. "It really does depend so much on where you sit" in how one views the Aereo dispute, he
said. What seems to be the big difference between Cablevision, Aereo and FilmOn X is the notion of Ca-
blevision "operating subject to a license," he said. In the 2008 Cablevision decision, the 2nd Circuit ruled
individual digital recordings of broadcast content were private rather than public performances, and there-
fore not subject to copyright law.
If Cablevision didn’t have a license, the 2nd Circuit "would not have decided the same way" in that
case, said Mary Ann Zimmer, a New York attorney who has represented broadcasters in court disputes.
The Cablevision decision clearly recognized that Cablevision’s "license," even if that concept was just
"implicit," was a key issue because the word "subscribers," not "viewers," was used in that decision to de-
scribe people accessing the content, she said. Disagreeing with the other panelists, she said Congress
"clearly ... had a definitional framework for what performance meant and a definitional framework for
what transmission meant, and if it was the same thing they would have said so."
The Supreme Court will be ruling on a "very narrow issue" in the Aereo case, said Zimmer. The
broadcasters, in their petition for cert, are seeking only a determination that the 2nd Circuit "erred" in its
interpretation of the Transmit Clause, she said. The broadcasters didn’t ask the court to overturn Cablevi-
sion or interpret how the Transmit Clause applies to remote storage DVRs, she said. But "theoretically"
the Supreme Court could opt to overturn Cablevision, she said.
It’s "very unlikely" that Congress will take up these issues anytime soon, regardless of how the Su-
preme Court decides in the Aereo case, said Homonoff. "They couldn’t do anything about gun control
after Newtown, so the notion that they’re going to step in and fix" the Supreme Court decision on Aereo,
"either way," is unlikely, he said.
The ultimate goal should be to create a "system where the creator is incentivized, in whatever the
medium may be, to create" works of art and "make them available" in the "stream of commerce without
fear that you will then not be able to do it again or that you will not realize the benefits" of it, said Homon-
off. "That, to me, is the starting point" for creating a policy that is in the public’s interest, he said.
Zimmer agreed.
"One of the big public policy issues" inherent in the Aereo case and the "entire battle over retrans-
mission consent" is also whether broadcasters are "misusing" the spectrum when they deny the public cer-
tain TV stations, said Homonoff. He pointed to the battles in recent years between networks and TV sta-
tions, including CBS versus Time Warner Cable, that resulted in many cable subscribers not getting access
4. 4—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014
to some stations. "On the other hand," Congress granted broadcasters the right of retransmission consent
as a provision of the 1992 U.S. Cable Television Protection and Competition Act, he said.
Panelists also pointed to broadcasters’ fears about the growing number of cord-cutters. Each
year the number of students who don’t subscribe to cable TV is growing, said Schruers. "Sports is the
only thing that’s really keeping people" subscribers now, he said. But there’s still a "huge amount of
consumption" of linear TV content, said Homonoff, pointing to the huge viewership of the Grammy
Awards on Sunday night. Although many young people aren’t watching TV traditionally anymore,
many of them are still viewing that content on alternative devices, he said, pointing to the many young
people who are using their parents’ subscription passwords to access HBO Go. Zimmer predicted that
many of the young people without cable TV subscriptions today will get one when they start making
more money. — Jeff Berman
CGB Made 'Close Call'
E-Readers Get Year's Reprieve on Accessibility, FCC Says in Approving Waiver
The FCC said e-readers need not include accessibility features for the disabled for advanced
communications services (ACS) because the devices are primarily designed for reading text-based digi-
tal titles and not for ACS. Giving an OK to a waiver sought last year by Amazon, Kobo and Sony, the
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau granted an exemption from 21st Century Communications
and Video Accessibility Act rules for a year, but not the indefinite period the companies sought (CED
Oct 15 p1). That time frame comported with the fears of groups representing those with vision impair-
ments, said one such advocate.
Some who are blind or have other vision problems would like to use e-readers to read texts aloud,
much like some earlier versions of Amazon's Kindle allowed, said American Council of the Blind Direc-
tor-External Relations and Policy Eric Bridges in an interview Wednesday. The waiver is a cost advan-
tage to e-readers over tablets, which research firm Yankee Group forecast will sell in the U.S. for an aver-
age of $105 this year versus $256 for tablets, said analyst Carl Howe, Yankee vice president. "Books tend
to be one of the things that you’d like to have very accessible, and the fact that they’re not requiring them
to include accessible features for Web access may create a somewhat unlevel playing field with those tab-
let makers that have to include" such features, Howe said. Amazon, Kobo and Sony had no comment.
5. THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—5
It was a "close call" for CGB to make in weighing the goal of accessibility over the product
limitations of e-readers, said the bureau twice in an order released Tuesday (http://fcc.us/1ffjIPs).
That was the day the bureau had to act, after giving itself six more months as the partial government
shutdown occurred during the deadline that e-readers used for ACS were to be accessible to the dis-
abled (CED Oct 24 p20). A close call was "the competing public interests at stake" for those with dis-
abilities to use basic e-readers versus the industry's "interest in preserving a unique product," said the
order signed by acting bureau Chief Kris Monteith. Another hard decision was whether "availability
of social media apps" on the devices is a primary or co-primary function "capable of providing two-
way interactive ACS between individuals, such as chat functions that are covered by Section 716" of
the 2010 law, said the order. ACS "serves an incidental purpose on these devices," the primary pur-
pose of which is reading, it said.
The waiver is for a year, as advocates persuaded the bureau that's akin to the product development
life cycle as opposed to the two years the companies cited, said the order. "A lengthy or permanent
waiver might negatively impact consumers with disabilities in the future with respect to their ability to ac-
cess ACS." The bureau said it's "very sensitive" to advocates' concerns and it understands "the need to
provide access to text-based digital works, recognize[s] the importance to the community of people with
disabilities of being able to access text in an audio format, and acknowledge[s] that some ACS is also text
based." Rapid changes in e-reader and ACS technology and the "expanding importance" of ACS to all
consumers argue against a permanent waiver, said the bureau. "While important technologic break-
throughs may require several years of development, the smaller incremental improvements seen in most
product releases do not appear to take that long."
The basic e-readers covered by the waiver are mobile devices designed primarily for reading text-
based digital works like books and periodicals, said the bureau. It said the devices must have no LCD
screen or camera and not be offered or shipped to consumers with built-in ACS. "Using a browser to post
information to a social media website (e.g., Facebook), look up information on the web, access Wi-Fi, or
purchase or download an e-book is not evidence of ACS; nor does it support a finding that ACS is a pri-
mary or co-primary purpose of these devices," said the decision. "We must look to whether the browser is
designed, marketed, and used for ACS, such as electronic messaging services, in order to determine
whether basic e-readers have ACS as one of their primary or co-primary purposes."
Some of ACB's approximately 20,000 members use e-readers rather than more expensive "assistive
technology" and tablets, smartphones and other advanced and expensive devices from companies like Ap-
ple, said Bridges. "The challenge is they are expensive," and that can be a hardship for those who are
older versus buying an e-reader, he said. "The technology that is utilized or that could be utilized to make
those $75 or $80 devices accessible is simply not that expensive anymore." Bridges and allies thought
there might be a waiver for a limited period of time, rather than none whatsoever as those groups sought,
"simply because it is a pretty narrow class," he said. "You’re never happy when something is extended,"
he said of the order extending the 180-day reprieve e-readers got from the FCC in October. Other groups
opposed to the waiver had no comment.
E-readers hit their peak in U.S. sales at 8.6 million devices in 2012, and Yankee expects this year
will see more people than any other year own one, at 20.1 million, versus an installed base of 132 million
in 2014 for tablets, said Howe. Tablets, sales of which in this country are projected to rise 25 percent to
74.8 million this year from last, will continue to grow but by increasingly smaller portions, said the ana-
lyst. "They’re not growing as fast as they used to be." E-readers will "continue to exist, but it will be a
smaller part of the market — this is a cannibalization business" by tablets, said Howe. "And to a much
6. 6—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014
lesser extent, by smartphones." There will remain some e-reader users "who don’t want to transition, they
don’t want a tablet, they want an e-reader," he said.
"Somebody has lobbied pretty well to say that they don’t want to have to provide Web services" on
e-readers, Howe said of the waiver. "In many cases, there aren’t good Web browsers on these devices,
because at the end of the day they’re not designed to be Web devices." Worldwide tablet shipments grew
28 percent in Q4 to 76.9 million units from the year-ago quarter, said preliminary data from International
Data Corp. released Wednesday (http://bit.ly/LaKc9Y). "While the market's growth rates remain impres-
sive, they're down dramatically compared to the year-over-year rates of the same quarter one year ago
(87.1 percent) and indicate a significant slowing of the overall market." Ranked in order of Q4 shipments
of tablets, leaders are Apple, Samsung and Amazon, said IDC. — Jonathan Make
Apple Revenue Share Down
Cirrus Eyes Voice Technology for Growth, Amid 29 Percent Revenue Drop
Fiscal Q3 2014 revenue at Cirrus Logic fell 29 percent on changes in pricing structure and a shift
in mix to products with lower selling prices, the company said in a shareholder letter issued Tuesday
ahead of its earning call. Cirrus’s largest customer, Apple, was about 84 percent of Cirrus’s total net sales
for Q3 of fiscal year 2014 and 91 percent for 2013, and 81 percent of the company’s total sales for the first
nine months of fiscal years 2014 and 82 percent for 2013, Cirrus said in a 10-Q filing.
Cirrus, which bought Acoustic Technologies in December, believes voice is the next catalyst to
fuel growth in portable audio as a key interface for mobile devices through voice capture, automatic
speech recognition enhancement and far field multi-microphone technology, it said. Low-power compo-
nents enable products to be always on and ready to respond to commands, the company said. The market
is in early stages but Cirrus expects to be a key player due to its signal processing expertise, engineering
and portfolio of low-power components, it said.
Cirrus plans to introduce new voice processing products this quarter for the “broader mobile mar-
ket,” combining Cirrus’s components with Acoustic’s noise reduction, echo cancellation and voice en-
hancement software, it said. According to CEO Jason Rhode, Cirrus’s voice-based technologies will ma-
ture first in smartphones but then potentially have “lots of legs” in other form factors, including automo-
tive and devices within the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things means different things to different
people, he said, but to Cirrus it means “voice interface to your devices,” he said. The company expects to
optimize products for that application going forward.
In the nascent LED lighting market, part of Cirrus’s energy segment, Rhode expects a “significant
growth market” in LED lighting, but so far the market is “a lot more fragmented than we expected.”
Manufacturers have launched a number of SKUs as they try out different approaches, he said. “I don't
think anybody has really hit a home run” on what LED light bulbs should look like, he said.
Developments over the past year show that certain LED form factors “are a lot more discriminat-
ing” in dimming compatibility than others, Rhode said. “Everybody gets excited about whatever the lat-
est, cheapest A19 form factor bulb is,” he said, but in North America those are the “least likely lamps to
be connected to dimmers,” he said. MR16 and PAR lights used in ceiling applications are much likely to
be on a set of dimmers “and therefore put a lot more value on dimmer compatibility,” he said.
7. THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—7
Cirrus plans to work on more programmable, more customizable LED drivers “so one piece of sili-
con can target a wide variety of platforms and do so at a very, very low bill of materials cost basis,” he
said. Its strategy is to compete with solutions “where there’s literally no IC involved,” he said. In that
scenario the user experience “is improved significantly” while the product is simplified for Cirrus’s cus-
tomers, he said. LED lighting is “an interesting market,” but it’s “always a bumpy road when you enter a
new market with new technology. We’re slugging through it,” he said.
Net sales for the quarter ended Dec. 28 were $219 million versus $310 million in the year-ago
quarter, while net income fell to $42 million from $68 million. For the March quarter, Cirrus forecasts
revenue of $130 million to $150 million, it said, with gross margin between 47 and 49 percent. Shares
closed 8 percent lower Wednesday at $17.28. — Rebecca Day
'Foot in the Door'
TiVo's Digitalsmiths Buy Could Give It Access to Tier One Pay TV Operators
TiVo's acquisition of cloud-based services supplier Digitalsmiths potentially gives the DVR devel-
oper access to some tier one pay-TV operators that had eluded it, industry observers said. TiVo will pay
$135 million cash for Digitalsmiths, whose customer roster includes seven large U.S. pay TV providers,
including DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable, said Stephens Inc. analyst Tim Quillin. Time
Warner agreed to build Digitalsmiths' Seamless Discovery video recommendations technology into its
user interface. The Seamless technology allows users to find and view content across TVs, smartphones,
tablets and PCs.
"TiVo gets a foot in the door with tier one pay-TV operators who are not candidates to adopt the
entire TiVo user interface, but might be interested in a la carte offerings from Digitalsmiths/TiVo," Quillin
said in a research note.
The purchase will strengthen TiVo's hand as it moves to expand into cloud services and moves
core set-top DVR functionality such as search and recommendation to the cloud, Quillin said. TiVo last
week confirmed reports it had laid off five hardware engineers, but was keeping two to support its current
DVRs. A TiVo spokesman denied the company was getting out of the hardware business, saying that
with the introduction of its Roamio DVRs last year, TiVo expected to "deliver on that for years to come."
TiVo is expected to upgrade its Premiere DVRs with Roamio software in February (CED Dec 13 p4). But
TiVo also demonstrated network DVRs with a TiVo Cloud service at CES earlier this month. It has been
deployed in Swedish cable operator Con Hem's cloud-based service. The buy of Digitalsmiths will enable
to TiVo to deploy cloud-based services with operators either independently or with the TiVo interface,
TiVo said.
Digitalsmiths made its mark with VideoSense technology that enabled searching video by actor,
line of dialog, location, genre or product. Among the companies that have deployed VideoSense or Seam-
less Discovery are the CW Network, Foxtel, Paramount Pictures, Roku, Sharp, Sony PlayStation, Turner
Sports and Warner Bros. Digitalsmiths unveiled Seamless Discovery at the 2011 CES as a means for
making programming recommendations to users based on past viewing habits and directing them to where
the content could be found, whether it was video-on-demand, broadcast or cable. Digitalsmiths, which has
61 employees, including 49 in Durham, N.C., will remain based in North Carolina and CEO Ben
8. 8—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014
Weinberger and Chief Operating Officer Matt Perry will continue with the company, TiVo said. It also
has an office in Denver. Privately held Digitalsmiths has annual sales of about $10 million, Quillin said.
Digitalsmiths' cloud-based service handled 90 million transactions in July, increasing to 150 million by
December, Digitalsmiths said.
Digitalsmiths raised $12.5 million in 2011, in a financing round that included investments from
Cisco, Technicolor and Capitol Broadcasting. Whether those three companies will get stakes in TiVo or
still had investments in Digitalsmiths couldn't be determined. Cisco, Capitol Broadcasting, Technicolor
and TiVo didn't comment. Digitalsmiths has raised about $30 million since its founding. It also wasn't
clear where Digitalsmiths would be integrated into TiVo, which has hardware, services and audience
measurement businesses.
“Digitalsmiths contributes expertise, data opportunities, and approaches that complement and ex-
tend TiVo's extensive work in advanced television to customers seeking search, recommendations, and
portability,” TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said in a statement.
Meanwhile, TiVo increased its stock repurchase authorization by $100 million and said it will buy
$100 million of stock in Q1 of fiscal 2015. The new authorization gives TiVo $186 million to repurchase
stock. TiVo should have $800 million in net cash after the stock buyback and Digitalsmiths acquisition,
Quillin said. — Mark Seavy
Strong Next-Gen Tie Ratios
EA Says It Had 40 Percent U.S. Share on PS4 Games Last Month
Electronic Arts EA achieved a 40 percent market share on its games for the PS4 in the U.S. last
month and a 30 percent share on the Xbox One, CEO Andrew Wilson said on an earnings call Tuesday,
citing NPD data. Estimates also indicated that EA gained similar shares in Europe, he said. "On average,
every gamer in Europe that bought a next-gen console is playing one of EA’s next-gen games," he said.
EA was the top publisher on next-generation consoles in December and it has a "robust pipeline in front of
us" as the Xbox One and PS4 "player bases continue to grow," he said.
The six titles that EA released for the PS4 and Xbox One — FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, Madden NFL
25, Need for Speed Rivals, NBA Live 14 and Peggle 2 — "collectively sold above expectations and ex-
ceeded" EA’s Q3 forecast, said Wilson. EA’s Xbox One and PS4 software sales were "led by" FIFA 14,
Need for Speed Rivals and Battlefield 4, said Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen.
Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore is also "pretty bullish" on the software-to-hardware tie ratios
on the new consoles, he said. "Certainly, Sony has done well" with the PS4 "when you compare it to the
first two months of their launch" on the PS3, he said. Sony’s tie ratio grew to 2.1 for every console sold
from 1.9 on the PS3, he said. Microsoft’s tie ratio was down a little at 2.6 games per console on the Xbox
One compared to the Xbox 360, he said. "But I think a lot of that is to do with some of the bundling activ-
ity we saw on a global basis," he said. "Here in the U.S., I think, it’s been a solid start for both" consoles
and EA is "incredibly bullish that that will continue" next fiscal year, he said.
Strong demand for EA’s PS4 and Xbox One games helped its results in Q3 ended Dec. 31, but not
enough to offset weakness of its packaged games for the older game systems, it said (CED Jan 29 p11).
9. THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—9
EA’s loss widened to $308 million, or $1 a share, from $45 million, or 15 cents a share. Total Q3 revenue
tumbled to $808 million from $922 million a year ago.
Industry sales of major games for the PS3 and Xbox 360 declined in Q3 at a "faster-than-
anticipated rate, and that softness was the primary" reason for EA’s Q3 revenue "shortfall," Wilson said
on the call.
Despite strong sales, shortly after Battlefield 4 went live, EA started hearing from some players
who were "experiencing issues" with the game, said Wilson. The Battlefield team "acted swiftly to ad-
dress the issues through game updates, and they continue to make refinements as part of our live service to
ensure a great game experience" for players, he said. EA was "confident that gamers will be playing" it
"for a long time to come," he said. The game, which EA released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in addition to
the PS4 and Xbox One, was not immune from the decline in sales of games for the older systems, said
Moore. Any shortfall that EA saw in Battlefield 4 sales was related to that and not, "we believe, any is-
sues with the game itself," he said. The game has a "long tail" and EA "will continue to be able to sell this
effectively throughout" the next fiscal year, he said. Sony and Microsoft will continue to support the PS3
and Xbox 360 "at least for the next two years and bring this to a 10-year cycle as we saw in the previous
cycle," he predicted.
EA has "largely addressed the issues" that players had with Battlefield 4, BMO Capital Markets
analyst Edward Williams said Wednesday. "Based on sell-through trends, it doesn’t appear to us as
though there has been a material negative impact on the strength" of that game series created by those is-
sues, he said. "The challenge going forward, however, will be how to harness lessons learned so that these
issues do not recur in future games," he said.
December was EA’s biggest month ever for mobile downloads, with more than 71 million game
downloads across the App Store and Google Play, the most of any game publisher globally, said Wilson.
The Simpsons: Tapped Out reached a record level of daily active users in the holiday quarter, he said.
Those "milestones demonstrate how mobile continues to be a fantastic opportunity for EA’s expansion
and revenue growth," he said.
EA’s mobile business generated $125 million in Q3, said Jorgensen. That was up 26 percent over
the prior year and 19 percent over Q2 this year, he said. Smartphones and tablets continue to represent a
majority of that revenue, accounting for $110 million of the $125 million total and growing 39 percent
year-over-year, he said.
Full game downloads added $113 million of revenue to EA’s Q3 result, said Jorgensen. That was
up 157 percent from Q3 last year, mainly fueled by the release of Battlefield 4 on the PC in the quarter, he
said. Subscriptions, ads and other digital revenue totaled $66 million in Q3, down 16 percent from Q3 last
year due to a decrease in Pogo subscription and ad revenue, and a decline in Star Wars: The Old Republic
subscription revenue as EA’s free-to-play offering "continues to grow," he said.
EA will release two titles in Q4, down from five core titles in Q4 last year, said Jorgensen. It will,
for example, release Titanfall March 11 for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. EA will share more of its 2015
game release slate on its next quarterly call, it said.
"Contrary to some reports," EA still has several years left on its Madden NFL game deal, said
Wilson. EA is "in planning on the next Madden property right now and we expect to make a num-
10. 10—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014
ber of Madden games in the future," he said. EA shares closed 1.4 percent higher Wednesday at
$25.23. — Jeff Berman
Broadband
JetBlue Airways is weighing "strategic options" for its LiveTV in-flight entertainment sub-
sidiary as it seeks to increase deployments of the service, Chief Financial Officer Mark Powers said
Wednesday on an earnings call. Powers didn't disclose the options being considered, but analysts have
speculated that they could include a spin-off of LiveTV. In addition to providing satellite TV, radio
and movies, LiveTV is deploying ViaSat's Ka-band broadband service with JetBlue, which sells it un-
der the Fly-Fi brand and has installed it on 10 Airbus A320-232 airplanes since December, JetBlue
CEO David Barger said. JetBlue will retrofit about 15 A-320 planes per month this year with the ser-
vice, he said. JetBlue will add Fly-Fi to its Embraer E-190 jets in 2015, Barger said. Fly-Fi's basic
Simply Surf service is free through June, with a Fly-Fi Plus high-bandwidth plan for streaming movies
and large downloads available for $9 per hour, JetBlue said. "Connectivity is such an important prod-
uct for us," Powers said. "In-flight entertainment and broadband are core to the JetBlue brand, but you
don't need to actually own the company to retain that core asset. So we will continue to look at strate-
gic options that are in the best interests for, amongst others, our shareholders." LiveTV was purchased
by JetBlue in 2002 and has its headquarters in Melbourne, Fla. JetBlue last weighed options for Li-
veTV in 2012, but postponed a decision amid a debate over Ku- and Ka-band satellite services, an is-
sue that was resolved with the launching of ViaSat's Ka-band offering. In addition to JetBlue, Li-
veTV's other customers include Azul Brazilian Airlines, Frontier Airlines, WestJet, United Airlines
and Virgin Australia. LiveTV also is outfitting United Airlines planes with the ViaSat service.
DirecTV provides the satellite television service for LiveTV in the U.S., while Bell TV is the supplier
in Canada. In addition to LiveTV, other in-flight entertainment suppliers include Panasonic Avionics
Corp., Rockwell Collins and Thales Group.
Trends
Worldwide tablet shipments of 76.9 million units grew 28 percent year-over-year in Q4, indi-
cating a “significant slowing” of the overall market following 87 percent year-over-year growth a year
ago, said a report from IDC. Total 2013 shipments were 217.1 million units, according to preliminary
findings, up from 144.2 million in 2012, IDC said. Early adopter markets such as the U.S. are
“reaching high levels of consumer satisfaction,” while “strong growth” in emerging markets hasn’t
been enough to sustain the growth rates of years past, said Tom Mainelli, IDC research director-
tablets. Commercial tablet purchases are expected to accelerate in mature markets, but softness in the
consumer segment due to high penetration and increased competition for consumer dollars points to “a
more challenging environment for tablets in 2014 and beyond,” Mainelli said. Apple continued to
lead the market with 26 million units shipped in Q4, up from 22.9 million the year-ago quarter, IDC
said, but its 13.5 percent year-over-year growth was “well below” the industry average, IDC said. The
numbers highlight the challenges Apple faces as it attempts to grow its tablet business in markets out-
side of its “traditional mature-market strongholds” and as it comes up against more competition from
a range of competitors, Mainelli said. Apple’s worldwide tablet share grew sequentially in Q4 to 33.8
percent from 29.7 in Q3, but it was down from the 38.2 percent share in Q4 2012. No. 2 Samsung re-
tained its position on the strength of its portfolio and increased carrier support to reach 18.8 percent
