IMAKE is pleased to announce it has partnered with systems integrators Electronic Data Systems and Tech Mahindra to deliver a highly scalable IPTV solution based on IMAKE's OpenVision product suite with Sun Microsystems' newly released Sun Streaming server. EDS and Tech Mahindra will bring advanced service management and delivery expertise to the partnership and enable accelerated time to market for deploying an IPTV solution.

IMAKE's solution is the most scalable and open providing EDS and Tech Mahindra the ability to immediately roll out next generation IPTV solutions around the world. IMAKE's solution suite for IPTV is being installed at Tech Mahindra's lab in Pune, India, and at EDS's lab in Plano, TX. IMAKE's open systems design, innovative workflows and Offer Management, targeted advertising, and the ability to easily scale to millions of customers are key factors supporting the solution.

Media Zone and the Rugby World Cup launch RWC Plus, the official and exclusive broadband video On Demand service for Rugby World Cup 2007. RWC Plus is produced in association with MediaZone Rugby and will be streamed through the official tournament website at www.rugbyworldcup.com/video.

RWC Plus provides rugby fans worldwide with delayed coverage of all 48 matches from the Rugby World Cup 2007, as well as LIVE audio feeds, match previews, halftime and fulltime highlights and interviews for USD 49.99.

UTStarcom has successfully completed a rigorous security audit of its IPTV DRM System. The security audit was commissioned by UTStarcom in June 2006 and completed in April 2007 by the premier security-engineering firm in the country Merdan Group. According to audit results, the robustness of UTStarcom's digital rights management solution is among the highest that Merdan Group has audited. The results indicated that all areas were robust at the "Criminal Enterprise Level," the highest rating, with the exception of one area involving the Set Top Box installation that was rated at the second highest rating of "University Challenge Level."

In the not-too-distant future, many digital cameras, media players, and portable game devices will access the Internet from anywhere with mobile broadband coverage. The recent announcement by Sprint Nextel and Clearwire of a partnership to provide mobile WiMAX services to most of the US population should be greeted with enthusiasm by the consumer electronics manufacturers that are looking to introduce mobile broadband-enabled CE products to the North American market.

Hauppauge Digital has made a price breakthrough for consumers wanting to experience High Definition TV. The company is introducing a £99 TV tuner card that allows owners to watch free-to-air HD content on their PC or linked TV. Available immediately, the Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-HD-S2 card simply plugs into a PCI slot inside a desktop PC and connects to a satellite dish to provide live HD TV on the PC. Included with the Nova HD S2 is CyberLink PowerCinema application for full screen TV or TV-in-a-window on the PC.

Worldwide broadband subscriptions will exceed 536 million by 2011, with DSL representing over half of the market. Fiber and WiMax will be among the fastest growing access technologies in the next 5 years, according to a report just released by Strategy Analytics, "Worldwide Broadband Subscription Forecasts, 2007-2011."

"Ambitious fiber rollouts in the US by Verizon and AT&T, and in Europe by French operator Free, will bring overall FTT(x) subscriptions to 64 million by 2011," says Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Broadband Network Strategies Service.

HickoryTech has launched its Digital TV service in North Mankato, Minn. and Janesville, Minn. A new entertainment option is now available to residents in these communities offering digital quality and customized packages at attractive rates. The state-of-the-art broadband network is one of the first of its kind to support Digital TV in Minnesota.

With the addition of North Mankato and Janesville, HickoryTech offers its triple play services of Digital TV, high-speed DSL, and local and long-distance phone service to 10 communities. North Mankato is located 85 miles south of the Twin Cities and includes more than 5,100 households. Janesville is located 75 miles south of the Twin Cities and has more than 800 households.

Dailymotion and RDF announce an agreement to bring original content to Dailymotion’s audience of 30 million. Under the terms of the deal, RDF USA will provide Dailymotion with eight original programs/concepts. These concepts will be conceived with an eye towards brand integration. Senior Creative Director Danny Passman, along with a team of Dailymotion executives with years of television development experience at Time Warner and MTV Networks, will bring these web series to life. Together, Dailymotion and RDF USA will share in the revenue from online distribution as well as from any television derivatives.

Metacafe now makes it easy for video producers and fans to create, update and promote their own entertainment channels on Metacafe.com. The more than 25 million people who visit the site each month can subscribe to channels that suit their tastes and interests, knowing they’ll receive daily e-mail notification if one or more of their selected channels have been updated. This addition underscores Metacafe’s commitment to delivering an exceptional online entertainment experience.

AT&T and Tribune Company have announced a distribution agreement to deliver Superstation WGN and Tribune stations in local markets served by AT&T U-verseSM TV. Under the agreement, U-verse TV customers will have access to the variety of programming available on Superstation WGN, including family, news, and movie entertainment and sports events, such as Chicago Bulls basketball games and Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball games.

During 2007 digital TV in Ukraine has taken a major step forward and companies already established in the market are starting to reap the benefits of their investments in marketing. In Ukraine alone there are 17mln TV households!

DTH – 3 operators have announced their intention to launch a DTH service to the Ukraine population of over 43 million people. Poverkhnost is already transmitting DVB-S services including 2 HD channels. DataGroup has launch DTH in HD standard. Vision TV is preparing for a launch later this year. If the Ukraine DTH market is anywhere near as successful as DTH launches in Poland and Romania, we predict to see 850,000 new subscribers in the next 3 years and 2.5mln in 5 years.

For the first time, a virtual space of information about the MIPCOM Mobile & Internet TV Awards has been set up inside the 3-D virtual world of "Second Life". This virtual platform rests upon the creation of content by its residents and brings together creators and new talent in areas such as internet, video (machinima), etc.

For the third consecutive year, the MIPCOM Mobile & Internet TV Awards stimulate and reward excellence for new short form audiovisual entertainment content and cross media formats for Mobile and Internet TV. The final deadline for submitting entries to the Awards has been set for 30 July 2007. Entering the competition is free and open to professionals from any country.

The new age of television has finally arrived. And it’s a little messy. Telecoms operators are now broadcasters, broadcasters are providing online video services and consumers are becoming content producers. Meanwhile, advertising revenue is falling due to fragmented audience, changing consumer demands and behaviour. It’s clear that the future has arrived, but the question remains: What are we going to do about it?

Put simply, being on television is no longer enough. Broadcasters must become multi-platform media gateways, with a presence on any platform their viewers care to use. Pay TV, be it over satellite, cable or IP, must offer not only the best content, but in the most attractive manner, whilst content owners and producers must tailor their output to suit the platform it is destined for.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of IPTV Middleware Ranking Report June 2007 to their offering. This report defines and describes the software category known as IPTV middleware and provides a comprehensive view of the status of this important technology category, and in-depth views of the vendors participating in the category and their products. It also provides trends and conclusions about the “four generations” of IPTV middleware, ranks category leaders by a variety of criteria, and recommends best practices for service providers evaluating these platforms as the foundation of their IPTV deployments. In March 2007, the author ranked the leading middleware vendors based on their actual deployments.

MyOutdoorTV.com announces the official launch of its website, complete with a state-of-the-art, searchable video player and programming by many of the top names in outdoor television. The official launch caps a year of development in beta version and venture capital investment funding of the website created by three cable television veterans from the former The Nashville Network.

Currently streaming over 70 outdoor television titles, MyOutdoorTV.com features programming hosted by such outdoor legends as Hank Parker, Mark Sosin, Jimmy Houston, Larry Csonka, Roland Martin, Babe Winkelman, and many others. In addition, it includes over a dozen radio shows and links to more than 150 outdoor blogs. It allows on-demand viewing worldwide of more than 1400 half-hour national and regional shows by anyone with a high-speed internet connection.