Hasta La Gadget!

Need another reason to never leave your house? Blockbuster will soon add video game rentals to its subscription-based Total Access service.

The video rental company will kick off a pilot program with a select group of subscribers in the second quarter and open it up nationally by year’s end.

Blockbuster did not immediately provide information on pricing, but the option will reportedly add an extra $5 to monthly subscription fees.

“We already rent more video games than any other company, store-based or online, in the nation, so we know our core customer loves games as well as movies,” Bob Barr, vice president and general manager of blockbuster.com, said in a statement. “Plus, according to their plan, they’ll continue to be able to exchange their by-mail rentals both for free in-store movies as well as half-price in-store game rentals.”

The pilot program will cover game titles across major platforms like the Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox and Xbox 360, Blockbuster said.

A report in the Nikkei Japanese business journal Friday claims that “Pioneer Corp. will pull the plug on its loss-ridden television business and shift its DVD player operations to a new venture with Sharp Corp. in a sweeping overhaul,” according to the paper.

Late Friday, a spokeswoman for Pioneer’s USA businesses did not specifically confirm or deny the report.

“As a matter of policy, we cannot comment on rumors or speculation,” she said in an email. “As you know, we have publicly announced that we are actively evaluating our business. We started announcing changes in March, 2008 to increase efficiencies of our business operations. We are still in that process but do not have any further announcements at this time.”

This seems eerily similar to what occurred a week ago with NEC Display, and the somewhat cryptic comment that NEC was exiting LCD-related businesses. As it was, NEC Display is alive and well, although NEC Display also didn’t confirm that information until the following Monday: such is the way that Japanese conglomerates interact with their overseas subsidiaries.

Unbeknownst to us, Pioneer may have already tipped its direction with its CES launch plans: some Blu-ray players, but no LCD TVs. In May, exited the plasma panel business, agreeing to source panels from Matsushita, now renamed Panasonic.

Barring a last-minute change of heart from President Obama, today’s House vote means that the DTV transition is on track to move from February 17 to June 12.

Naturally, DC folks have plenty to say about the vote; a sampling of the reactions that have rolled into my inbox:

Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps:

“I welcome Congressional passage of the DTV Delay Act. It has long been clear to me–and it’s even clearer since I became Acting FCC Chairman two weeks ago–that the country is not prepared to undertake a nationwide transition in twelve days without unacceptably high consumer dislocation. The additional four months provided by the law affords urgently-needed time for a more phased transition, including a consumer-friendly converter box coupon program, stepped-up consumer outreach and support–particularly for vulnerable populations–and dealing with coverage, antenna and reception issues that went too long unaddressed. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but thanks to great leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives, we now have an opportunity to do it better.”

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass

“We’ve got to make sure the transition to digital television is done in a way that protects consumers,” said Kerry. “A short delay will give us time to work through the problems left by the Bush Administration and help ensure the transition goes as smoothly as possible without disrupting critical services such as emergency broadcasting announcements. I’m glad my colleagues in Congress and President Obama agreed that a delay was necessary and took action to protect the millions of consumers at risk of losing their television signal.”‘

More after the jump.

Five years after Janet Jackson “accidentally” flashed millions during the Super Bowl halftime show, Comcast subscribers watching Sunday’s game in Tucson, Arizona got a more hardcore surprise when their signal turned to a pornography channel.

Near the end of the fourth quarter, Comcast customers watching the standard definition KVOA-TV station saw about 10 seconds of pornography. The glitch did not affect users watching in high-definition, according to AP.

Seconds after the Arizona Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald scored a touchdown, “the unthinkable happened,” according to one viewer. “Our TV reception went bad and went blank. Then all of a sudden we see a woman putting her hands down some guys pants, and she whips his ‘thing’ out–all right on public television.”

3D ads? Who cares? At least, that was the conclusion of Super Bowl viewers who owned a TiVo, the DVR company said Monday.

Using the company’s Stop||Watch feature, TiVo was able to learn which commercials were the most watched during the Super Bowl, using aggregated, anonymous, second-by-second audience measurement data, including which spots were rewound and viewed again. The data was culled from approximately 30,000 households that tuned into the game.

Although Intel hyped the 3D technology used within the Dreamworks Monsters vs. Aliens trailer and the subsequent SoBe commercial, it appears Super Bowl viewers reinforced the old maxim, “sex sells”. Or at least boobs do: the top spot was this GoDaddy teaser ad. The preview for Monsters vs. Aliens barely made the top fifty, TiVO said.