Much has been written this week about CES and NATPE and their mutual desire to become the preeminent programming bazaar—the place that studios and other content creators go to sell TV programming and where every possible outlet from TV stations to the latest digital gimcracks goes to buy it.

It seems clear from our interview with Nick Orfanopoulos last week that that is where CES boss Gary Shapiro wants to take his show. A former NATPE hand, Orfanopoulos was hired to bring the programming community to CES.

And, of course, NATPE fully intends to hang on to its position as the top TV syndication marketplace as its stretches to bridge the content world to mobile and other new media.

Sony Pictures Television has also thrown its considerable weight behind CES with a major presence at the show. And for Sony it sort of makes sense, it can sell big-screen HDTVs and Seinfeld and has to visit Vegas only once every January.

NBC Universal also made a big splash at CES, even staging the evening news with Brian Williams on the exhibit floor.

But, unlike Sony, NBCU is not abandoning NATPE. It sees the two shows as complementary.

As NBC network chief John Eck told TVNEWSDAY, NBCU needs to be at CES to reach the new media, but also acknowledges that it needs to be at NATPE to stay in front old media.

What this neat story line—CES versus NATPE—leaves out is another powerful institution that believes it—not CES, not NATPE—is best suited to be the ultimate, all-platform content marketplace.

That institution is, of course, the annual NAB convention in LasVegas each April.

NAB wants to see Sony Pictures Television, NBC Universal and all the rest on its exhibit floor.

The NAB show has made no secret of its programming ambitions. The theme of this year’s convention is “Where Content Comes to Life.”

It will feature a content theater, two pavilions dedicated to IPTV and mobile solutions, and a commerce area to facilitate content partnership opportunities.

The content theater will be a forum for high-level Q&A sessions, keynote speeches and panel discussions to be presented alongside segment screenings of recent, cutting-edge films.

Just this week, NAB announced that Anthony Zuiker, the creator of the CSI franchise on CBS, is joining the convention’s keynoters.

“We feel we represent the best opportunity to bring all the [content] players together,” said Chris Brown, the NAB EVP in charge of the convention. “It’s absolutely a priority.”

“We are very focused on the full spectrum of content creation, front to back, all the way through delivery,” he said. “It’s a natural fit for us."

The NAB could even step into NATPE's traditional role as a marketplace for syndicated TV programming, Brown said.

Brown said that NAB’s interest in the content side of the business has grown as content providers have come to understand that they have to be producing and distributing for screens of all sizes.

“It’s natural progression for us,” he said. “We have seen more and more of those types of players coming to our events and we’ve had more and more of our attendees asking about where they can find content. Is there an opportunity to do that at the show?”

Brown sees himself in competition with the other conventions.

“There is one view that would say that these events can be complementary,” he said.

“I think that’s a possibility. But in the day and age where everybody is looking for time and dollar efficiencies things may shift and sway. We will be in that horserace to some extent. At the end of the day, we are going to have to let the marketplace decide which venue—what opportunity—makes the most sense.”

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When I first got a look at the new NAB logo last week, I immediately thought of my hometown Pittsburgh Pirates … and the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Penquins.

Pittsburgh is, I believe, the only town whose professional sports teams all share the same colors—black and gold.

The NAB logo is punctuated by a little graphic with black and gold vertical bars (with a few gray ones thrown in).

Before seeing the NAB press release, I kidded NAB’s Dennis Wharton that the logo would also make me think of the Pirates and Pittsburgh rather than NAB's new spirit of strength and innovation as was intended.

I laughed when I finally saw the press release. The Blattner Brunner ad agency produced the logo. And where is that agency based? Pittsburgh, of course—on Stanwix Street, a nice walk to PNC Park, Heinz Field or Mellon Arena.