The global Internet TV market is forecast to reach a value of $81.2 billion by the 2017, with market growth being primarily driven by factors such as a soaring demand for digital media entertainment, growing penetration of high-bandwidth broadband services among households, and a rapid increase in Internet enabled devices such as smart TVs, smartphones, and tablet PCs.

The US and Europe represent two of the largest markets for Internet Television, with the European market drawing strength from the traditionally strong markets of France, Germany and the UK, in addition to the fast growing countries of Russia, Italy, Spain and additional Eastern European markets.

YouView will launch at the end of this month after numerous delays. YouView is a collaboration between broadcasters BBC and ITV, U.K. television channels Channel Five and Channel 4, as well as telecom companies BT Group and TalkTalk Telecom Group and media firm Arqiva is targeted at all U.K. consumers, particularly those that have free-to-air digital-TV but don't want to sign-up for pay-TV.

The U.K.'s pay-TV market is dominated by satellite operator British Sky Broadcasting Group with more than 10 million customers. Staunch rival Virgin Media has around 4.8 million cable customers, while telecommunication operator BT's pay-TV service, BT Vision, has around 700,000 customers.

blinkx announces that a blinkx app is now available on Popcorn Hour and PopBox, the Internet TV platforms from Syabas Technologyc. The app, now available in the Syabas Apps Market, allows customers to search, discover and watch high quality videos from blinkx's extensive index of professionally produced content, all from the comfort of their couch.

The Popcorn Hour and PopBox set-top boxes offer not only your own locally stored media like DVDs and Blu-Rays, but also access to the best sports, movies, videos and music the Internet has to offer. With seamless integration to movie information on the web, as well as HD and 3D capabilities, Syabas is able to create a truly immersive entertainment experience every time you turn on your TV. Through the Syabas Apps Market users can find and download apps from the most popular video, music, photo, and social networking services, including Facebook, Twitter, SHOUTcast Radio, YouTube, Flickr and now blinkx!

Entone announces that Unity Telecom has selected its FusionTV solution to launch a first-of-its-kind Broadband TV service that unites live HDTV programming and cloud-based services.

In contrast to other emerging Broadband TV models that require proprietary head-end equipment and market-by-market retransmission agreements, Entone's FusionTV service aligns service operators and broadcasters with existing FCC regulations. FusionTV also prevents conflicts with broadcasters by allowing operators to embrace the popularity of free-to-air programming.

Verismo Networks announces the release of its MelaTV application on internet connected devices. MelaTV will allow consumers of the varied and diverse communities throughout the Indian subcontinent to access 24/7 streaming of high-quality live television programing along with ability to watch On Demand content.

Content will include entertainment channels, cooking shows, sports and live news networks, educational programs, devotional videos, and much more. Additionally, MelaTV will offer our award winning Mela Movies service with select packages.

An entertainment service for Telugu, Tamil and other regional Indian markets, MelaTV is available on numerous platforms including Roku players, iPads, Kindle Fire, Samsung Galaxy Tablet, PC, Mac and other Internet-enabled devices. It is the first application of its kind to offer a full 7-day archiving option for its channels via the state of the art cloud-based DVR service, at no extra cost to its subscribers. Additionally, included in the MelaTV pricing packages is MelaFlix, a movie channel providing Telugu and Tamil films along with hit Bollywood titles back to back for non-stop entertainment.

A new report from Juniper Research finds that the number of streamed mobile TV users on smartphones will increase to 240 million by 2014. This increase will be driven by a rise in smartphone penetration and a growth in the usage of internet TV and IPTV services.

TV Anytime, Anywhere

The report found that the substantial growth in streamed mobile TV users would arise from a combination of both increased smartphone penetration and, critically, an increasing usage of live and on-demand services both on TVs and PCs. These catch-up and live internet TV services are already allowing users to become their own programme schedulers – mobile allows consumers to take this content away from the home by ‘placeshifting’ it and adding a new dimension to the TV experience.

LG plans to launch Internet-enabled TV based on Google’s platform in the United States in the week of May 21, as the South Korean firm seeks to gain a larger share of the emerging Internet TV market, a senior LG executive said on Monday.

The move reflects an aggressive push by the duo to defend against a potential threat from Apple Inc, which reshaped the handset market with its iPhone smartphone and is widely expected to unveil a full-fledged TV product later this year or early next year.

“Production of Google TVs will start from May 17 from our factory in Mexico and U.S. consumers will be able to buy the product from the week of May 21,” Ro Seogho, executive vice president of LG’s TV business unit, told a small group of reporters.

Google TV allows viewers to access Google services such as searches and YouTube videos on their television screens.

Celebro Media Networks joined the BBC last night in celebrating the first broadcast of live television output from its new Broadcasting House. BBC Russian’s 10-minute news programme was broadcast live from the new state-of-the-art studio space in the BBC’s new Central London home to Russia’s 24-hour IPTV channel Dozhd TV in Moscow – in the first live news transmission produced and broadcast as an IPTV operation.

A team from Celebro Media Networks developed and piloted the programme’s format, training editorial teams in the live gallery output and TV workflows. Our lead IPTV Consultant Wesley Dodd was in the gallery for the launch. He said: “All the team worked so hard to bring us to this pioneering moment. It felt like a milestone in the history of broadcasting as we produced and delivered the live news bulletin as an IPTV operation from the BBC’s new Broadcasting House for the first time.”

FilmOn.TV has signed a deal with Content Media for The Paranormal Channel. FilmOn.TV streams 150 linear HD channels as well as 10,000 video on demand titles and The Paranormal Channel is completely unique to FilmOn.TV; you can't find it anywhere else on the internet. It will be FilmOn.TV's first 24/7 paranormal channel featuring everything from aliens, Bigfoot, and hauntings to controversial ghost stories, unexplained mysteries, Roswell and unlocking the Di Vinci code.

The deal was recently signed between CEO and founder of FilmOn.TV, Alki David and Content Media's Mark Benmore. "The Paranormal Channel is unique to FilmOn.TV because it touches an area that is based on reality and horror," said David. "The paranormal has always interested our viewers. We see this from the success of our horror and sci-fi channels. The Paranormal Channel really complements this line up of content because their shows are just what our viewers are looking for."

Acorn TV is now available on Roku. Available at acornonline.com/TV and launched in July 2011, Acorn TV makes the company’s award-winning British mysteries and dramas available to the increasing number of consumers who prefer to stream content. Sold at leading retailers, Roku streaming players are renowned for their ease of use, value, and selection of content. Roku works on virtually any TV and sets up in minutes with built in wireless. Acorn TV streams a full season of 10 classic and contemporary series, including many of the best British mysteries and dramas of all-time. A free 30-day trial of Acorn TV is available to all Roku users.

Currently streaming on Acorn TV are full seasons of the most successful British drama series in television history, Upstairs, Downstairs; Acorn’s top-selling detective series Midsomer Murders; the complete series of the original UK TV phenomenon Queer as Folk; the first series of Robson Green’s spellbinding crime drama Touching Evil; the award-winning period detective series Murdoch Mysteries; Derek Jacobi in Cadfael; Lynda La Plante’s Trial & Retribution; Masterpiece Theatre favorite Lillie; as well as contemporary detective series’ The Last Detective and Blue Murder.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Internet Era of TV - Expanding Entertainment" report to their offering.

The Internet is rapidly becoming an alternate vehicle for the delivery of video and TV content directly to consumers.

In the new TV ecosystem, Over the Top TV represents the answer to the increased demand for flexibility in consumption and choice in content by the consumers who want to integrate their viewing with their online lives, sharing experiences with friends, often on second screen devices.

The current market is still at an nascent stage, and despite the uncertain economic framework, OTT revenue is expected to rise to 1.9 billion in 2015, with an annual growth rate of 53%.

Envivio will introduce product enhancements and demonstrate its full range of solutions at NAB 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 16-19, booth SU3902.

Envivio is optimizing its software-based transcoding platform with Envivio Muse iTV, offering advanced features for broadcasters and content providers delivering high quality video to any device, including tablets and smartphones. Some of these enhancements include:

• Source timecode information in different multiscreen output formats to support highlight editing and manipulation
• SCTE 35/104 ad insertion for TV Everywhere and Internet TV applications
• New functionality for Apple iOS 5 including multi-language support, time-shifted functions such as I-frame scrubbing, fast rewind and fast forward capabilities with image preview
• Blackout support

Ericsson will provide a range of video processing solutions and support services to NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, during its coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Games from London, England July 27 – August 12, 2012. The announcement was made today by David Mazza, Senior Vice President, Engineering, NBC Olympics, and Staffan Pehrson, Vice President and Head of TV, Ericsson.

The Ericsson solution is helping to deliver NBC Olympics’ HD content across both contribution and distribution feeds to ensure the highest picture quality from the Olympic venues to millions of viewers in the United States. Ericsson is providing a range of products including MPEG-4 AVC encoders, professional receivers, multiplexers and satellite modulators as well as a team of support engineers in both London and New York. These engineers will assist in equipment/system set-up, maintenance and troubleshooting ensuring no great sporting moments are lost in transmission.

Broadcast International announces the debut of its software-based CodecSys Media Server that streams media content from one unified source to multiple clients and devices for a complete "TV Anywhere" solution. The server, being demonstrated for the first time at NAB, was developed to extend and enhance a broadcaster's content delivery options, opening new Over the Top Television opportunities to the myriad new video-capable devices, including PCs, cell phones, tablets, set top boxes and smart TVs.

Broadcast International is also highlighting its CodecSys Encoder/Transcoder and the latest version of its Managed Media Services for digital signage networks.

Regency Resources announces the signing of a binding Letter of Intent outlining plans to seek a merger with Digitally Distributed Acquisition Corporation in order to develop a media based business offering an in-depth portfolio of content for Internet TV distribution.

Martin W. Greenwald, former CEO of Image Entertainment and the CEO of DDAC, signed the binding letter of intent with Regency Resources aimed at merging the two companies. The business combination will target the distribution of content in the rapidly expanding internet broadcast TV market. Greenwald has been a pioneer in the media distribution sector for over 30 years and believes that a move to internet television is a perfect culmination of a career spent bringing media to a viewing public in the most advanced way possible.