News

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will play host to the Technology & Innovation Emmy Awards for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) in January 2007. The awards ceremony will be the CES' opening event on January 8, 2007, and will kick off the show's 40th-anniversary celebration.

Other keynote events will include speeches by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Motorola chairman Ed Zander, and the president and CEO of The Walt Disney Co., Robert Iger.

NATAS Technology & innovation Awards honor achievements in two areas: Science & Technology for Television, which covers broadcast, cable, and satellite distribution; and Advanced Media Technology, which includes interactive gaming technology and, for the first time in 2007, the Internet, cellphones, private networks, and personal media players. Nine new awards have been announced for 2007:

Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content
Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Non-Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content
Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Creation of Non-Traditional Programs or Platforms
Outstanding Achievement In Advanced Media Technology for the Creation of Video Games
Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use of Personal Media Display and Presentation Technology
Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use of "On Demand" Technology Over Private (Closed) Networks
Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use of "on Demand" Technology Over the Public (Open) Internet
Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use by Commercials for Personal Media Display and Presentation Technology
Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use by Commercials in Creation and Use in Non-Traditional Platforms and Technologies

Industry insiders are excited about the T&I Awards' change of venue, citing the importance of technical innovation to the growth of entertainment options and the invisibility of the awards when packaged with the more glamorous front-of-camera awards ceremony. "Moving the tech Emmys to the show is an inspired and brilliant decision, one that will give the overlooked awards a proper spotlight (the point of giving out an award is to attract recognition, hard to do so if the ceremony is hidden away)," said tech columnist Kris Abel of website www.ctv.ca. " Since you already have the tech industry gathered, with red carpets and celebrities, cameras and lights, and 24 hour coverage, it makes perfect sense to grab a hotel in Vegas and hand out some shiny hardware."

For additional news on the 2007 CES, go to www.CESweb.org.