In 2005, there's a good chance you or someone you know will buy a digital television set and a satellite radio and purchase a movie at home using a remote control or laptop. In the newspapers (strike that -- on the Internet), you'll read more about radio and television indecency and may very well see the Supreme Court take the first step toward tossing out the federal regulations that have kept NBC from looking more like HBO.
Where 2004 saw Comcast Corp.'s attempted takeover of the Walt Disney Co., the Big Music merger between Sony Music Entertainment Inc. and BMG Entertainment, Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s purchase of Warner Music Group and NBC's purchase of Vivendi Universal's movie and television properties, no big media mergers are on the horizon for the coming year, other than the eventual purchase of troubled cable company Adelphia Communications Corp., possibly by Time Warner Inc.
This year's action will take place in the living room and courtroom, said a group of more than two dozen media, entertainment and technology executives, policymakers, commentators, public interest advocates and consultants informally surveyed by The Washington Post. Among the top technology and policy issues for 2005:
• Digital television: By the end of 2004, there were almost 10 million digital television sets in use in U.S. households, most of them high-definition televisions (HDTV). Seven million more will be shipped by the end of 2005, predicts the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the trade group of electronics makers.
Digital televisions enable local television stations to add channels and improve the picture and sound quality of broadcasts.
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