IPTV

Microsoft touts Xbox One as all-in-1 entertainment

May 22, 2013 1:36 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The new console wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies, sports and other entertainment. People will be able to connect their cable or satellite set-top box and watch TV through the Xbox One. It will have its own channel guide and allow viewers to change channels by voice command.

Canby Telcom preps authenticated broadcast TV

May 21, 2013 1:52 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Canby Telecom will provide over the top (OTT) delivery of local broadcast channels to authenticated Canby Telecom subscribers via Roku boxes. The operator is using the Elemental Live video processing systems from Elemental Technologies to adapt traditional MPEG-2 broadcast channels to multi-bitrate Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS).

Netflix's Hastings: People don't love linear TV

May 20, 2013 2:06 pm | by The Canadian Press | News | Comments

Speaking in Canada, the Netflix CEO says his biggest challenge there is competition from the likes of Videotron, Rogers and perhaps the combination of Bell and Astral should that merger happen. Netflix recently published an 11-page letter to shareholders entitled "Netflix Long Term View," outlining how the company believes it will thrive in the years ahead at the expense of conventional broadcast TV.

Lantiq chipset enables DSL vectoring

May 14, 2013 1:48 pm | by Brian Santo | Products | Comments

The company said that gateway designs based on the new chipset, the Xway VRX300, can reach data rates of 200 Mbps (two pair bonded) and up to 150 Mbps (vectoring) while supporting an array of home networking features, including integrated Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Gigabit Ethernet and VoIP.

Rural Iowa telco goes FTTH with Adtran

May 13, 2013 1:16 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Marne Elk Horn Telephone has installed Adtran’s Total Access 5000 broadband platform as it upgrades its network in Southern Iowa from copper plant to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). In addition to residential and business customers, the service provider is connecting local school districts.

YouTube's new pay channels go from campy to kids

May 10, 2013 1:17 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Although the world's largest video site has rented and sold movies and TV shows from major studios since late 2008, YouTube is introducing all-you-can-watch channels that require a monthly fee. The least expensive of the channels will cost 99 cents a month but the average price is around $2.99.

The 2013 CTO Roundtable

May 8, 2013 1:35 am | by Brian Santo | Articles | Comments

Time Warner Cable’s Mike LaJoie, Cablevision’s Yvette Kanouff, Cox Communications’ Kevin Hart, and Buckeye Cablesystem’s Joe Jensen share their thoughts on some of the most prominent technological challenges they are dealing with today, and a few they might have to contend with tomorrow.

OTT programmers converge on NYC

April 29, 2013 1:42 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

In the last 12 months, companies like Netflix, Yahoo, and YouTube have experimented with original programming, with some hits and some misses. But there were more than enough hits to encourage over-the-top programmers to keep trying. They'll all be in New York City this week talking about it at the second Digital NewFronts conference.

Assia smooths the path to vectored VDSL

April 26, 2013 2:16 pm | by Brian Santo | Products | Comments

Assia has upgraded its management and optimization software to enable VDSL providers to introduce vectored VDSL gradually, as market demand merits. The software suite also gives VDSL companies the tools to handle common noise impairments.

Netflix scores big with original programs

April 23, 2013 2:13 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Netflix's move to compete against traditional cable-TV channels with original programming is pulling in more subscribers to its Internet video service and winning back investors who doubted the company's ability to cultivate distinctive entertainment. First quarter results prove it.

Plala to deploy Android set-tops in Japan

April 22, 2013 12:39 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The Japanese IPTV company will be deploying Android-based set-tops built by Sumitomo Electric Networks and based on new chips from STMicroelectronics. STM's Orly system-on-chip (SoC) includes a dedicated real-time multimedia processor, multi-standard video decoding engines, and video encoding.

Deluxe Digital teams up on OTT storefronts

April 9, 2013 11:57 am | by Brian Santo | Products | Comments

Deluxe Digital Distribution has joined with two different IPTV platform partners – NeuLion and Accedo – to create interactive digital movie stores, complete with a library of content, that any service provider could adopt to rapidly offer their customers over-the-top (OTT) content.

Ericsson to acquire Microsoft Mediaroom

April 8, 2013 12:53 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Microsoft will invest its full attention on the Xbox as a vehicle for its consumer TV strategy. Ericsson, meanwhile, further solidifies its position in the IPTV market, picking up ongoing support for Mediaroom customers, including AT&T (U-verse), Deutsche Telekom (Entertain), Telefonica, Telus (Optik TV), and Swisscom.

Research: STBs bounce back in 2012; Cisco leads the way

April 8, 2013 12:03 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Infonetics Research’s recent study said that the set-top box market, which includes IP, cable, satellite, hybrid boxes, bounced back last year. According to Infonetics, the global set-top box (STB) market, totaled $4.6 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, which was up 3 percent sequentially

Intel offers reference for IPTV set-top

March 19, 2013 2:34 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Intel has a new reference design kit for set-top boxes and media servers based on its own Atom CE5300 processor, Futarque’s DVB-T2/T/C broadcast and media sharing stacks, Videon Central’s aVia media engine, and Hillcrest Labs’ Freespace Motion Engine software.