• SCTE seeks session proposals for Canadian Summit 2010
By Traci Patterson

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers is asking for proposals for technical sessions that will be conducted at the SCTE Canadian Summit 2010, which is set for March 9-10 in Toronto. Technical paper proposals must be submitted to the SCTE by Oct. 9.

The sessions will address the following subjects, and submissions should specify one of these areas:

• Alternative energy solutions in the network
• Commercial/business services
• DOCSIS 3.0
• Evolution of the home
• FTTH/FTTB
• Headend and related facilities
• Making it work!
• Software solutions for cable operators

Submissions are to be e-mailed to gcalcaterra@scte.org. The event’s program committee will announce the selected presentations by Nov. 2.

• On2, heading toward Google, improves in Q2
By Brian Santo

On2 Technologies reported its penultimate quarter as an independent company, after having recently been purchased by Google for $106 million.

The video compression specialist reported Q2 revenue of $5 million, an increase of 53 percent from the second quarter of 2008 and an increase of 24 percent from the prior quarter. The company reported a Q2 loss of $224,000, compared with a net loss of $7.2 million a year ago.

Matt Frost, On2’s COO and interim CEO, said, “While we have felt some impact of the global economic recession, the continual growth of video on the Internet coupled with the growing need for content providers to reduce bandwidth and improve quality continues to drive our business forward.”

• Sonus Networks beefs up network border control offerings
By Mike Robuck

Sonus Networks announced it has added enhancements to its Sonus Network Border Switch in order to help its customers target markets such as IP access services with voice over broadband and SIP business trunking.

Sonus also said it has improved the switch’s interoperability in order to quickly resolve incompatibilities between SIP peers and end points, and a carrier’s network.

“Today’s access environment requires more than a simple session border control device at the network edge,” said Shailin Sehgal, vice president of product management and marketing at Sonus Networks. “The introduction of local policy management means that for the first time, the Sonus Network Border Switch will be able to act as a standalone network element with built-in call routing functionality – a key differentiator of Sonus architecture. The Sonus Network Border Switch combines security, media switching and transcoding services in a single, scalable product.”

• S&P ups DirecTV credit rating to investment grade
By The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) – DirecTV Group Inc.'s credit rating was raised out of junk territory into investment grade Thursday after the satellite TV operator said that it won't be borrowing as heavily going forward.

Standard & Poor's upgraded DirecTV's corporate credit rating to 'BBB-' from 'BB' after the company said it will aim to borrow amounts equal to around 2.5 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ratio. S&P said DirecTV had historically been borrowing 3 or 3.5 times such earnings.

The ratings agency also raised DirecTV's Holdings LLC's unsecured debt to 'BBB-' while the secured debt rating stays at 'BBB-.' The outlook is stable.