PSP is the new DVR

The new Sony PlayStation Portable handheld device is an extension of the same imperative on viewer choice that has led to the popularity of digital video recorders, according to Comcast Communications Chief Executive Brian Roberts.

"There's going to be a very huge proportion of viewers that isn't watching [TV programming] live, and the industry is going to have to work together to find ways to deal with that," said Roberts, speaking during a panel discussion at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association National Show Monday in San Francisco.

DVR technology allows viewers to pause, rewind, instantly replay or play back any live broadcast by recording it onto a hard drive. It also lets users easily fast-forward past commercials. Sony's PSP plays video games, music, and movies.

An increasing number of viewers, through the PSP and other devices, are going to live in a world in which ads will have to be much more relevant to consumers in the way that Internet ads have to be, Roberts added.

Roberts said this more voluntary ad environment is why a significant aspect of Comcast's recently announced deal with TiVo, the company that pioneered DVR technology, involves ways to deliver ads to the commercial-zapping consumer that will be more "useful."

Because ads will be more directly targeted, he added, "ultimately advertising will be a big winner. In the short term, there's going to be a disruption."

Roberts agreed with other panelists that the ability to make content available on a wide variety of portable devices is a key element to cable's viability in the years ahead.

However, Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of DreamWorks Animation (DWA: news, chart, profile) , said that video piracy "is the dark cloud over the horizon" that worries content providers when they think of that kind of portability.

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