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Cable Technology Feature Article

January 12, 2011

Tokyo Control: Sony Brings 3D Drama to Japanese Cable

By Jaclyn Allard, TMCnet Copy Editor


Sony hoped to arrive at CES (News - Alert) 2011 in the forefront or at least a true contender in the race for sets and accessories offering Internet content and 3D video. Sales fell short in 2010, but Sony’s CEO, Howard Stringer, remained positive about Sony’s future. Revolutionizing the movie and TV world and enhancing the gaming business, 3D technology still brings excitement to consumers’ and Stringer’s faces.

Recently, Stringer discussed his thoughts on Sony’s 3D plan and if it should have been delayed with the falling economy. “You have to launch 3D. It's there. Competitive pressures — you read in the papers, so-and-so is the first to release 3D TV. You don't want to be the last. I don't think short-term (sales) numbers say anything about anything except the nature of the economy and what people can afford,” Stringer remarked. As Stringer continually emphasized in a recent interview, “In the digital world, he who hesitates is abandoned. So you have to generate 3D excitement with as many devices as you can find.”

Now, a drama series is in fruition called Tokyo Control, to begin Jan. 19. The 10-episode series portraying the life of officials from the Tokyo Air Traffic Control Center will be broadcasted in 3D with the help of Sony Corporation, which moving forward in 2011. The show will all be broadcasted in 2D from the producing company, Fuji Television Network, Inc.

Japan has taken off with 3D technology. Sony is joining the ranks of Japanese 3D providers such as Panasonic (News - Alert) Corp., which in April produced Japan’s first 3D TV commercial. With all the 3D craze it is surprising to see the report that domestic shipments of 3D flat televisions only amounted to 131,000 from April to September 2010, only 1.34 percent of overall domestic flat TV shipments.

Recently in the news, a group of hackers successfully uncovered and published a security code that would allow modification of Sony’s Playstation 3 gaming console. Bypassing this code could potentially make the PS3 open to pirated games and unauthorized software, though the group claim making the code public was not intended maliciously. Regardless of the intent, Sony is now launching legal action against the parties involved hoping to stop the use of the uncovered information before it because widely employed. The company has filed a lawsuit against the hackers responsible on the grounds of copyright infringement.


Jaclyn Allard is a TMCnet copy editor. She most recently worked on the production team at Juran Institute, a quality consulting firm producing its own training and marketing materials. Previously, she interned at Curbstone Press, a nonprofit publishing press in Willimantic, CT, and fulfilled the role of Editor-in-Chief for the literature and arts journal published by the University of Connecticut. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jaclyn Allard