Pioneering UK IPTV operator Inuk Networks has been acquired by Move Networks, the streaming specialist that most recently attracted investment from Microsoft.
Inuk realized a few years ago that Universities and some of the smaller ISPs use multicast routers in their networks and therefore real IPTV was possible in Universities and within the reach of ISPs such as Cable and Wireless, and proceeded to offer it.
It has been expanding in the US and Canada, with a combination of paid multicast IPTV to a PC, using a specialist secure set top emulator it calls Igloo, as well as and a free offering.
It looks like it is that PC software which is really behind Move Networks buying the company, as Move offers an innovative streaming system over the open internet, and is more interested in keeping the content it sends secure than migrating to multicast QoS assured IPTV. However it says in a statement that by using the Inuk technology Move Networks can offer ‘a true TV experience over the open Internet as well as on closed networks, using a mix of both multicast and rate adaptive video delivery,’ so clearly it is not planning to throw the multicast side of things away.
Move already works with ABC, FOX, The CW, ESPN360, ProSieben, and Televisa delivering content to PCs over the web with fast start (not buffered), high-fidelity images, and is known for some of the clearest video on the web.
Igloo will give Move an Electronic Program Guide appearance with on-screen overlays, reminders, PVR and access to a VOD menu.
Inuk provides IPTV services through its branded platform Freewire to the on-campus, halls of residence market at universities in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada and Move Networks said it is committed to developing that platform, and help launch it in the US and Nordic region later in 2009.