CBSSports.com announces that NCAA March Madness on Demand will have an additional, high-definition quality video player available for users when action from the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship begins on Thursday, March 19. CBSSports.com has selected Microsoft Silverlight to power its new high-quality player to deliver the enhanced video stream. By downloading the new Silverlight high-quality player, users can upgrade their NCAA March Madness on Demand experience from the standard player (approx. 550 kb/s) to one delivering up to 1.5 mb/s of enhanced video action from the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

Microsoft and Netflix announce that 1 million Xbox LIVE Gold members have downloaded and activated the groundbreaking Xbox LIVE application from Netflix since the alliance launched last November. In less than three months the Xbox LIVE community has watched instantly 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TV episodes.

The Netflix application offers Xbox LIVE Gold members the ability to instantly watch movies and TV episodes from Netflix on a television via the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. Xbox 360 is the only gaming and entertainment console that lets viewers instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix. Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited members can watch movies and TV episodes streamed instantly from Netflix on Xbox LIVE for no additional fee.

Watch the world on your television. Verismo Networks launches a global OEM initiative targeting consumer OEMs, content aggregators, and Internet Service providers. Verismo's VuNow Internet TV platform is redefining the home television experience by bringing millions of internet videos from around the world directly to the TV.

Verismo's OEM partners now can leverage the versatile VuNow Internet TV platform to rapidly bring to market differentiated versions of VuNow-based products to maximize success in the highly competitive consumer broadband and digital entertainment markets. The VuNow Internet platform includes a hosting and delivery platform for on-demand content under a subscription, pay-per-view or ad-supported models. Supported features include content shaping and ingestion, video cataloging, subscription management and billing, analytics engine and geo targeting.

Reflecting today's economy and Major League Baseball's industry-wide effort to add value and increase fan enjoyment, 2009 MLB.TV subscription packages were launched with advanced technology and for a lower price. Come and get it, baseball fans. MLB.TV Premium is now available for $109.95 per year or $19.95 per month. The yearly price is $10 less than the 2008 cost. The MLB.TV standard product is also now available at $79.95 per year and $14.95 per month. That also reflects a $10 annual price drop, in a spirit similar to that of many teams' ballpark ticket prices this season.

TV Worldwide has been selected to produce the third quadrennial "eNaugural" webcast, live from the Virginia Black Tie and Blue Dominion Ball as part of the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, Monday, January 19 beginning at 9:00 PM ET at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. Building on the success of TV Worldwide's production of the 2001 and 2005 eNaugural webcasts from Inaugural Balls, the webcast will again be featured on TV Worldwide's Internet TV Channel for veterans, USVets.TV , offering interviews, behind-the-scenes and Ball live entertainment coverage featuring the Commodores and other performers, for global on-line participation from U.S. troops stationed overseas, who will receive video e-mail greetings from event attendees. Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, TV Worldwide board member and company co-founder, will again serve as Honorary Co-Host.

Blockbuster and Sonic Solutions announce an alliance to give consumers access to a vast library of premium digital entertainment across a wide assortment of home and mobile electronic devices. Under the multi-year, preferred-provider agreement, Blockbuster will supply the branded consumer interfaces and Sonic will power content delivery across PC and consumer electronic devices.

TV browsers and applications such as widgets are hot themes at this year’s CES, but according to recent Strategy Analytics research consumers see video on demand services as the most valuable features of internet TV. The research, carried out for Oregan Networks by Strategy Analytics’ Digital Home Obervatory, also found that downloading widgets and customizing TV screens with skins were seen as the least valuable features.

Move Networks has expanded its capacity to deliver HD Internet television experiences to viewers everywhere at any time. At the Consumer Electronics Show 2009, Move Networks is showcasing a growing number of technology, distribution, and solution provider partnerships, to support Internet television initiatives of any size and scope in every market. As such, Move Networks remains the only Internet television services provider capable of delivering HD programming to any Internet connected device – from PC’s to mobile devices, Set-tops and Digital TV’s.

NETGEAR introduces two new products that enable consumers to enjoy the world of Internet videos and digital entertainment content on their HDTV screens. Designed to enhance the connected lifestyles of Internet-generation families and serious media enthusiasts, the NETGEAR Internet TV Player and the NETGEAR Digital Entertainer Elite will be demonstrated this week in the NETGEAR booth, 30769, in the South Hall 3 of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Orange and Canal+ have signed a multiannual agreement to allow Orange triple play customers who are not eligible for TV by ADSL to subscribe to Canal+ and/or Canalsat, as well as Foot+. Via Astra satellite, in 2009, Orange triple play customers with satellite TV will be able to receive these offers directly on a single ADSL/satellite hybrid set-top box provided by Orange.

A technical cooperation agreement between Orange and Canal+ Group will allow both partners to use the same satellite resources. To broadcast its own channels, Orange also signed an agreement with SES Astra. The service that Orange TV is offering its triple play customers via the Astra satellite will thus be close to that available via ADSL

The National Lacrosse League launches the NLL Network, an online grid of 13 channels streamed online at NLL.com. The channels will feature live, high-quality online video broadcasts of NLL regular season and playoff games for the 2009 season at no cost to the viewer. Fans will be able to embed their favorite team's channel on MySpace, Facebook or other websites making the NLL the first professional sports league to virally broadcast live games. The NLL has selected Mogulus Pro platform to power the NLL Network.

Samsung and Yahoo! announce a new Internet-based service to Samsung televisions available in the spring of 2009. Select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV line-up will be powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, a fifth-generation applications platform that enables TV watchers to interact with and enjoy a rich set of “TV Widgets.” TV Widgets make it easy to interact with Internet content and services to complement and enhance the traditional TV viewing experience. The lightweight Javascript and XML applications bring content, information and community features available on the Internet within easy reach of the remote control. The new televisions will be displayed at CES 2009 in Samsung’s booth located at Central Hall, Booth #11033.

Verismo Networks announces their long awaited $99 VuNow PoD is now available online. With partners like YouTube already on board, the VuNow delivers a world of Internet videos right to the television easily without the need for a computer. Verismo's VuNow is the only solution that provides everything a consumer wants. Access to the broadest Internet content, simple to use, easy to install, and compact in size -- all at an affordable price.

The BBC and Adobe announced the public beta of the new BBC iPlayer Desktop download manager built on Adobe AIR, a key component of the Adobe Flash Platform. The new BBC iPlayer Desktop beta will enable Windows, Mac and Linux users to download programs to their desktops. Previously, the ability to download programs was only available for Windows users. Now, the new download manager allows users to view their favorite BBC shows, online or offline, with a high-quality solution across operating systems.

GridNetworks announces support for GridCast TV on the Sony PlayStation 3. The GridCast TV service, which launched last month, enables content distributors and owners to stream video directly over the Internet to viewers’ TVs without requiring a set-top box or any other additional hardware. GridCast TV uses existing UPnP devices such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Internet-enabled TVs.