Detecon, Inc., a leading global telecommunications and information technology consultant, has released several key predictions and caveats for the emerging IPTV industry. Detecon's IPTV: Technology and Development Predictions, is a must-read for those interested in keeping current with IPTV technology and market developments.

A new report from MRG, IPTV Home Networking Strategies, 2006, describes the strategic importance of the Home Network for IPTV (IP TV) operators. It describes how a Home Networking strategy can improve the competitiveness of an IPTV service against Cable and Satellite services, and position the IPTV operator well in the looming battle against the PC and CE (consumer electronics) industries. Extending their management systems to include the Home Network will give IPTV operators an entry into the home that none of these other companies can match today. In addition, the IPTV operators can use the Home Gateway and IPTV Set-Top-Box to provide both local and network based services. These strategies can give IPTV operators an important early lead because neither the Cable or Satellite companies have the two-way communications infrastructure, or the Set-Top- boxes, that can compete against these services.

Northern Sky Research (NSR) today released its newest survey and forecast report: Mobile TV 2006- Enabling Rich Video on the Go. The report examines the potential for mobile TV over both broadcast and unicast networks. The report also examines the business case for mobile TV, the various technologies planned to support it and the plans of mobile carriers and vendors to target this emerging mass market opportunity.

Once again, Alexander Cameron, the Managing Director of Digital TX Limited, has given us a rare opportunity of publishing a white paper that would normally run for thousands of dollars. The latest white paper, entitled "IPTV: The Great Content Adventure," is about acquiring content for IPTV and video-on-demand services, and explores how ISPs and content owners can work together to build compelling new interactive entertainment services.

Our take: The white paper is an eye-opening first hand look into content acquisition and the issues surrounding it.

But don't just take our word for it, click through to read the entire white paper or download the PDF version.

Recent announcements by the cities of Amsterdam and Paris that they plan to deploy pilot fiber-to-the-home networks have been reinforced by a similar declaration two days ago from France Telecom. Deutsche Telekom had already indicated last year that it was making FTTH plans, and several big initiatives are under consideration in Spain.

U.S. consumer spending for online entertainment, including on-demand gaming, music, and video services, will grow by 260% in the next five years, according to Digital Lifestyles: 2006 Outlook, a new study from Parks Associates. Driven by broadband usage and innovations in digital entertainment platforms and content services, revenues will grow from $2.4 billion in 2006 to nearly $9 billion in 2010.

Analysys International says China's IPTV market will still be in the cultivation phase in the coming three years. Although China's IPTV commercial trial is in process, China's IPTV market progress is limited by technology and content restrictions, and the improvement of consumer recognition is slow.

According to newly released report from Dittberner Associates Inc. the incremental IPTV equipment market will only reach $336 Million in 2013 up from $30 Million in 2005. The number of IPTV subscribers, will reach 53 Million globally in 2013 from about 2 Million as of end of last year.

The report provided an in-depth appraisal of the impact of offering IPTV service on the Access, Aggregation and Backbone networks. The forecast for the incremental increase due to IPTV for these three market segments in 2013 are shown in Table 1.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Internet VAS--Focus Report on IPTV 2005 to their offering.

This report is based on our solid understanding of the Chinese telecommunication and media markets, with a focus on telecom and VAS. There are combined in-depth interviews with professionals in relevant industries with our broad collection of second-hand materials.

IMS Research estimates that during 2005, about 20.6 million HDTV displays will be shipped worldwide. The double-digit growth expected in this market over the next five years will result in a forecast of nearly 60 million HDTV displays shipped in 2010.

Based on a recent study from IMS Research entitled The Future of HDTV, HDTV sets that are able to receive and decode HD programs without a set-top box will begin to account for the majority share of the global market in 2007. Still, HD monitors that require a set-top box are likely to account for significant shipments through 2010. "Based on the existing digital TV landscape in Europe, demand for HD monitors will flourish," stated Anna Hunt, report author and research director at IMS Research. "Suppliers in this region currently have little incentive to integrate a digital tuner into HD monitors since no HD DTT programming is available, and HD programs via FTA satellite are limited. Over the next five years, HD via DTT will continue to be limited in many countries until analog switch-offs begin to free up spectrum."

A rash of mergers, acquisitions and partnerships among makers of set-top boxes and network equipment vendors is redrawing the map for the STB industry, according to a new study from ABI Research.

First Cisco announced its intent to purchase Scientific-Atlanta. Then in rapid succession Alcatel increased its stake in 2Wire, Siemens concluded a partnership agreement with Entone, and Thomson announced its intent to purchase Thales.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Cable Headend Infrastructure Market Opportunities, Strategies, and Forecasts, 2005 To 2011 to their offering.

The cable industry has evolved from a primarily one way broadcast mode to a two way Internet based services network. The capability to broadcast, complemented by communications capability provides for a far more interesting infrastructure.

According to leading market research firm Parks Associates, video services will be a significant area of growth in 2006, and technologies that match this content with trends toward personalization and interactivity will be important precursors to the future of digital services.

"At 2006 International CES, people should definitely look for solutions that enable new and unique on-demand content services," said Harry Wang, analyst at Parks Associates. "The technologies that fulfill the service requirements for the new standards in interactivity will see a lot of success in 2006."

Amidst a din of news stories, announcements, and conferences proclaiming On-Demand the current "it" format of entertainment consumption, Nielsen Entertainment Reports releases today The Economics of On-Demand Programming, an original analysis of current and proposed financial models supporting all varieties of on-demand programming.

Through analysis of several recent on-demand deals and exclusive conversations with industry executives, pioneering programmers and select news analysis of early on-demand endeavors, Economics maps out the new value chain for both content owners and advertisers and provides econometric and comparative media models for the revenue and cost of movies, television shows, music and other content in the on-demand world of VOD, downloading and streaming.

With considerable advancements in technologies such as asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), synchronous optical network (SONET), gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), the European telecommunication industry is seeing accelerated growth. 'Internet Protocol (IP) Everywhere' is the new buzzword in the telecommunications industry and in the progress towards convergence, service providers are competing aggressively to offer triple play (telephony, data and video services) to their customers.