Weekly IPTV Update

Animo's STB in N. europe's first HDTV service

Set-top boxes (STB) from UK manufacturer Animo have been used in northern Europe's first ever high definition IPTV service. The service was rolled-out in time for World Cup football matches offering viewers greater clarity and detail. By selecting Amino for this deployment, Lijbrandt Telecom BV was able to deploy HD services rapidly. As well as HDTV, the service will also offer triple-play functions; the grouping together of internet access, TV and telephone services into one subscription via a broadband connection. Lijbrandt, the firm being the new service, expects it to attract 120,000 subscribers within three years.
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Verizon sues over IPTV

While Congress dithers over a telecom reform bill that may or may not pass this year, Verizon is moving to the courts to prove its point that a national video franchising law is necessary. Both the Senate and the House are pushing legislation to allow Verizon and AT&T to bypass local franchising authorities in rolling out their Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) offerings. The idea is to streamline the entry into the pay television market to bring another competitor to cable systems.
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Regulatory hurdles worry IPTV industry

Regulations and customer understanding are the two biggest barriers to the success of IPTV (Internet Protocol television), say operators, content providers and vendors that participated in a survey done by the Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. and Accenture Ltd. Standardization issues and marketing and pricing also ranked high among areas of concern in the IPTV survey.
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Archer launches Indiatvlive.com

Archer Entertainment Media Communications has launched Indiatvlive.com, reportedly one of the first Indian IPTV platforms to stream Indian TV, radio and internet content. Indiatvlive.com will enable all Indian media via IP to deliver television and radio channels in real time, live from India on wired, Wi-Fi and cellular devices across the world. The content will comprise news, sports and entertainment in all languages of India. Full-time broadcasting via indiatvlive.com and indiaradiolive.com will begin by 15 August 2006 to mark the 59th anniversary of India's independence.

Verimatrix is selected for First Moscow IPTV Deployment

Verimatrix, developer of the most widely deployed IPTV content protection system with tier one operators is going to work with Russian systems integrator CTI to secure the content of Central Telegraph's IPTV service for Moscow and the Moscow region. The service roll-out, which will be made available to Central Telegraph's 60,000 broadband Internet subscribers, will be completed by October 2006. The IPTV service will offer interactive television services such as Video-on-Demand (VOD), premium channels, information and interactive services, as well as traditional broadcast and multicast TV and radio channels.
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India: IPTV likely to be under Cable TV act

IPTV is slated to be governed under the cable laws, as stakeholders including broadcasters and multi-system operators (MSOs) have sought the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to amend the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, to this effect. Responding to TraiÂ’s proposal of excluding IPTV from the purview of cable Act, both Zee and Star TV have said the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit of 49% on cable services should also be applicable to IPTV. Currently, IPTV attracts 74% FDI cap with Bharti Airtel and Reliance group holding IPTV licences.
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ESPN inks IPTV deal

ESPN Classic has reached a carriage deal with Telefónica’s Spanish IPTV platform Imagenio, reaching more than 250,000 subscribers. Imagenio offers 66 different TV channels, 15 radio stations, a pay per view football channel and interactive information and commercial services. The channel reaches 20 million viewers in over 40 countries, including Italy, France, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Monaco, Poland, Portugal and Croatia.

TRAI withdraws paper on IPTV

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is set to withdraw a consultation paper on IPTV that it had issued some time back.Though this can be viewed as a small victory for the broadcasting and cable community, which was resisting pressure from telecom companies to take IPTV out of the ambit of Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act. In its consultation paper, Trai had asked whether itÂ’s feasible to take IPTV out of the purview of the Cable TV Act and have separate licensing norms for it for its growth. The basic intention behind the proposed amendments in the Cable Television (Regulation) Act, 1995 was to keep the IPTV service outside the definition of `cable services.
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Cable Cos using competitive pricing to fight IPTV roll-outs

San Antonio, Texas is a perfect example of this phenomena. AT&T has recently launched its U-Serve IPTV offering in the city prompting leading cable incumbent, Time Warner, to reduce the cost of its television, internet, and phone services, and offer special bonuses like free premium channels and faster broadband connections to loyal customers.
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Tamblin launched the interactive portal for IPTV operators

Interactive TV firm Tamblin has launched a service aimed at telecoms operators looking to add further interactive elements, such as games, forums and advertising, to their existing broadband TV services. The IPTV Interactive Portal is powered by TamblinÂ’s i-ZoneTV technology. Tamblin is working with a number IPTV industry players including Microsoft, Ant and Espial, to help ensure portal can deploy quickly to these leading platforms.

Indiatvlive.com to provide indian content over IPTV

The portal has been launched in the US by Archer Entertainment Media Communications. It will also be launching www.indiaradiolive.com, which will begin by 15 August 2006. IndiaTVLive.com will stream Indian TV, radio and internet content to subscribers over IPTV. It will deliver television and radio channels real time, live and direct from India in high definition television quality on wired, Wi-fi and cellular devices worldwide.