* Streaming21 adds H.264 to support IPTV services
Streaming21 has added support of H.264 and IPv6 video streaming with highly scalable video delivery to its Media Server product. The new version, Media Server 6.0, enables delivery of MPEG-4 compressed video at much lower bit rates than standard MPEG-2. The groundbreaking technology cuts in half the bandwidth required to deliver broadcast-quality video streams for VOD and HDTV.

* ECI Telecom names VP-CFO
ECI Telecom announced the appointment of Itzik Zion as executive vice president and chief financial officer. He will be joining the company in mid June. ECI's current CFO, Giora Bitan, is departing to resume his venture capital career. Zion was previously CFO of Motorola Israel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Motorola.

* Finnish provider upgrades Cisco next-gen network
Cisco said Finland’s TeliaSonera is deploying the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System at the core of its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN). TeliaSonera had a total of 96 million customers in 15 countries in 2006. The network upgrade is in anticipation of offering a variety of new services, including high-definition IPTV and converged fixed-mobile, ultimedia IP communications services.

* Republicans assail FCC for over-regulating cable
Reps. Joe Barton of Texas and Fred Upton of Michigan chastised FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for trying to force cable companies to carry both the digital and analog signals of broadcasters, even though multicast must-carry was already rejected once by a previous incarnation of the FCC.

The two congressmen also objected to Martin’s crusade to force operators into offering program channels on an a la carte basis.

According to a Reuters report, the two Republican congressmen wrote a letter to Martin that said, "We are disturbed that, with respect to the cable industry, you appear to be making proposals that are leading the Commission precisely down the road of intrusive regulation when it is least justified."

"The correct regulatory response, therefore, is to ensure free markets flourish, not to layer on additional, unnecessary, and burdensome regulations," the two lawmakers wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.