Shanghai Scientific Technology Committee has named Shanghai Akomedia DITVS (Digital Interactive Television System) as a recipient of its annual Innovative Technology Award.

Akomedia is the only company on the list of awardees totally devoted to the development of IPTV solutions.

Latens Systems has been awarded a contract to provide Latens Foundation CAS (FCAS) Content & Revenue Security to Salten Bredband, the Norwegian IPTV operator.

FCAS will protect the Salten Bredband IPTV service, which presently includes 35 IPTV channels and Video on Demand and Program on Demand content services.

Belgacom, Belgium's biggest telco operator, has topped the 100,000 mark for its interactive, digital IPTV offering faster than expected. Instead of the end of the year, as originally anticipated, the Belgian operator reached exactly 102,971 subscribers for its IPTV offering back at the end of September 2006. The solution is based on Surpass Home Entertainment from Siemens, a turnkey end-to-end solution for IPTV that is brought into Belgian households via the ADSL telephone line.

Optical Entertainment Network (OEN announced that it has signed an IPTV carriage agreement with Southern Entertainment Television (TheSET). Through this agreement OEN's FISION service will offer its subscribers the following four channels: Southern Gospel Music, Bluegrass Music, Classic Black Gospel Music and Classic Country Music.

The IPTV World Forum in London, taking place from 5-7th March 2007, will be hosting the first award ceremony specifically for the IPTV industry - The IPTV World Series Awards 2007.

The awards will cover the core technology requirements for IPTV, from platform management and the headend through the network and into the customer home. Categories include Best IPTV platform management/middleware/application solution; Best IPTV distribution/transport/delivery solution; Best IPTV headend & video processing technology; Best IPTV customer premise equipment technology; and Best IPTV content protection/rights management solution.

Alcatel and Lucent Technologies have completed their merger and will begin operations as the world's leading communication solutions provider on December 1st, 2006. The new company Alcatel-Lucent, with one of the largest global R&D capabilities in communications and the broadest wireless, wireline and services portfolio, is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. The company will be traded on Euronext Paris and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from December 1st, 2006 under a new common ticker (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU). Serge Tchuruk was appointed today as Chairman of the Board and Patricia Russo will be the CEO of Alcatel-Lucent.

The press conference will be available via a live audio webcast on Friday, December 1, 2006 at 1.00PM at: http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/conferences/day1/

AT&T Inc. announced the initial launch of AT&T U-verse to Houston residents. U-verse services are initially available in limited areas, and AT&T plans to expand availability on an ongoing basis. Houston is the second market where U-verse services are commercially available, following a June launch in San Antonio.

March 26-29, 2007
Arabella Sheraton Grand Hotel, Munich, Germany

WiMAX faces current challenges from 3G/HSPA and UMTS-TDD and future threats from 3GPP’s LTE for MIMO-OFDM based UMTS wireless broadband which is already optimised for voice and video. Can WiMAX service providers sufficiently develop their markets and solve the QoS challenges to delivering voice and video in the face of these existing and evolving threats? Find out at WiMAX 2007.

NeuLion Inc. announced a new service agreement with Switch and Data, to support its iPTV customer network growth. The announcement was made at the 2006 SATCON Conference & Expo, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

NeuLion currently operates the largest IPTV Chinese Network with KyLinTV; the only global African IPTV Network with Africast; a groundbreaking IPTV service with the New York Islanders and an association with the NHL.

Bluestreak Network, Inc., has signed an agreement with one of China's leading IPTV equipment and service providers, Hansun Technologies. The deal will further expand Bluestreak's footprint in the Chinese television and digital multimedia market by bringing its MachBlue technology to additional operators, OEMs, and software developers.

Symmetricom, Inc. will be presenting a free TechThink Webinar entitled “Ensuring QoS Through Timing in Next-Generation Networks: The Impact of Timing and Real Time Applications on Carrier Infrastructure” along with the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solution (ATIS) on Wednesday, December 6, 2006, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST. The ATIS TechThink Webinar is the second in a series of three precise timing and synchronization Webinars and will focus on precise timing and synchronization issues for specific applications such as IPTV, VoIP, online gaming and other Next-Generation Network services.

TiVo Inc. has launched Program Placement, its latest advertising solution that offers advertisers an opportunity through the TiVo Service to insert an ad after a program has played, when there is nothing left to fast forward through. Advertisers will be able to reach their target DVR audience by purchasing advertising enhancements against specific shows. Burger King Corporation, General Motors Corp., MasterCard Worldwide, The Weather Channel and Court TV are the first companies to take advantage of Program Placement on TiVo.

YouTube announced that, in early December, its leading video entertainment service will be available to people on mobile devices. In its first strategic mobile distribution agreement, YouTube will enable Verizon Wireless V CAST consumers to access a selection of YouTube videos from their mobile phones exclusively for a limited time.

Apparently, people aren't the only ones waiting for fiber to come to their area. Once upon a time, a squirrel came along an expensive fiber-optic FiOS line and decided to rewire some of it for his little cavern.

"I lost my FiOS connectivity Saturday morning, rendering my Verizon (VZ) triple-play package of voice, data, and television inoperative. The culprit? Squirrels," writes Andrew Schmitt.

Click here to read the terrible tale "Squirrels Ate My FiOS." While this is definitely tragic, I still believe it comes in second to "Russian squirrel pack kills dog."

The world of next-generation communications and entertainment is expanding in the Alamo City. AT&T Inc. has expanded availability in San Antonio of AT&T U-verse services, which now include High Definition (HD) programming and other new features that set it apart from other offerings in the marketplace.

The new features, available to new and existing customers, include HD technology, web-remote access to DVR, ability to record up to four programs at once, an expanded lineup of available programming, and new set-top boxes.