Telefonia’s Imagenio IPTV system is thought to be trying out technology that will allow channel changes to happen without a remote control, instead using hand gestures picked up by the set top. Imagenio reported this week that it now has over 500,000 subscribers. Telefonica will use gesture technology from Gesture Tek which uses a video camera built into the set top.
SeaChange International seems to be claiming that it invented the idea of use Flash Memory in a VoD server, when in fact that was Swedish company Edgeware. However SeaChange has got its first installation at Cablevision in Mexico which is says offers unprecedented reliability, flexibility and economy, and says that it is the ‘only’ non-volatile streaming solution, which sounds to us to be straight from the Edgeware brochure. SeaChange described its MediaServer Flash Memory Streamer 100% flash based and completely decoupled from disk-based storage. We wonder if there is a patent suit on the cards?
The FCC made it clear at a public hearing at the Harvard Law School this week that it will not put up with ISPs blocking traffic on their systems but offered the compromise notion that ‘network operators can take reasonable steps to manage traffic, but they cannot arbitrarily block access,’ and saying it would create legislation if this principle was not adhered to. One member of the FCC called for a case by case adjudication process while ISPs like Comcast, recently accused of destructive ‘traffic shaping’ made it clear that it only gets involved when file-sharing traffic volumes would affect system performance for other subscribers. This issue will run and run.
Research outfit RNCOS says that the IPTV industry is currently dominated by Europe but that Asia will emerge as a stronger competitor to Europe in coming years. The number of broadband subscribers will take rise dramatically in the Asia-Pacific region at an annual compound growth rate of 91% until 2011.
Pilat Media has extended the reach of its flagship system by adding technology that provides personalized television advertising for broadcasters and telcos. The module is an enhancement to the company’s Integrated Broadcast Management System and it enables advertising to be automatically inserted according to the household or individual subscriber profile across all platforms.
We often forget that Vodafone actually had another IPTV service before the one it is launching in Germany and that’s the tiny system it has in Iceland. DRM specialist SecureMedia says that Vodafone there has chosen its Encryptonite ONE System to protect its next generation IPTV offering there.
IneoQuest Technologies which offers end-to-end video quality management systems for IPTV services said this week that 2007 revenue grew 220% as more IPTV operators need its tools, especially as they bring on HD systems.
DRM IP company Intertrust says that it is working with SyncTV on developing a version of its Marlin DRM SDK to work on SyncTV’s online TV downloads, which plays back on PCs, Macs, and Linux devices.