The Asia-Pacific region will lead worldwide set-top box market growth for the next five years, according to new data from ABI Research. Asia-Pacific’s share of the market will approach 50% of all set-top boxes sold worldwide in 2013-2015 before declining slightly.

“This trend towards Asia-Pacific STB uptake is driven by the completion of digital transitions in North America and Western Europe, coupled with the digitization of cable systems in China occurring through 2015-2016,” says practice director Jason Blackwell, “Subscriber growth in India is strong too, although no clear timeline for digitization has been established, which hampers digital STB growth.”

Vision IPTV will launch a commercial and technical hub in Dubai, UAE, to support customer expansion throughout the Middle East, West Asia and Africa regions.

John Mills, Vision IPTV CEO, said, “Vision and our partners see considerable potential in the region to extend our reach, build new audiences and offer quality broadcasters in the region a global distribution solution that they can monetise fast – all without large capital outlay”.

KyLinTV announces the official launch of Guangxi TV International as part of its expanded Great Wall package in North America.

Launched in January, 2010, Guangxi TV International provides informational services related to economic and trade exchanges between countries within the recently formed China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Free Trade Area. With the brand positioned around the beautiful landscapes and the multicultural diversity while, at the same time, emphasizing the emerging trends in the region, Guangxi TV International introduces China and more specifically, Guangxi, the province best positioned to become the hub of the newly developing cross-border activity, to viewers in ASEAN countries and around the world. The programming lineup highlights the latest achievements as a result of the win-win cooperation between China and the various ASEAN member countries while displaying the colorful local and ethnic customs and culture of Guangxi and keeping up with the latest fashions in China.

KIT digital has signed a letter of intent to establish KIT China in partnership with Morse Chen, founder and former CEO of Greater China's first premium content IP video portal, Webs-TV (now called Yam.com). KIT digital plans to officially launch KIT China in the beginning of the first quarter of 2011.

KIT China is expected to become the vehicle through which KIT digital will manage its business in the Greater China area (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau), including service of existing clients in the region, deployment of new clients, customer-driven customization of its industry-leading VX-one software solutions, and the establishment of local channel and re-selling partnerships. Over time, KIT China would also serve as a remote development and delivery center for the company's Prague-based research and development team.

Bharti Airtel announces the expansion of its Triple Play proposition to Bangalore. The announcement follows a successful run of ipTV operations in Delhi NCR region. With Triple Play, Airtel offers customers the opportunity of simultaneously enjoying voice, broadband and television (ipTV) all on a single line.

Airtel ipTV will come to customers through a strong backbone of Carrier Ethernet Network with last mile delivery on copper using ADSL2+ technology, which will enable superior digital video and audio quality.

UTStarcom was awarded the contract for Sichuan Radio and TV's Integrated IPTV Broadcasting Control Platform Project through a rigorous competitive bidding process. Initiated by Sichuan Radio and TV in early August of 2010, the project is China's first network integration project for pilot cities. UTStarcom will provide it with a package solution which includes software and infrastructure development and content delivery network support.

More than 10 vendors competed in the bidding process and UTStarcom emerged as the winner after two rounds of competition. Sources say this bidding represented the first phase of the Sichuan Radio and TV project which is designed to cover the regions and subscribers ripe for two-way networks. As the number of subscribers increases, the project is expected to expand to eventually cover the entire Sichuan Province.

Playboy TV International has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Taiwan Chunghwa Telecom MOD, Taiwan's premiere telecommunications provider and a leader in IPTV, to launch Playboy TV and Playboy HD VOD programming in Taiwan.

Playboy TV's commercial-free channel, airing in English with Chinese subtitled characters, launched today and is available to consumers 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the Chunghwa Telecom MOD IPTV platform. MOD subscribers can order the channel (No: 360) a la carte or as an add-on channel to the Family Pack. Playboy TV's HD programming is available through CHT MOD's video on demand platform.

KIT digital has executed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Benchmark Broadcast Systems based in Singapore. (All currency figures below are reported in U.S. dollars.)

“Benchmark was a choice acquisition for us in a number of ways, and one which we have been working on for some time,” said KIT digital’s chairman and CEO, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman. “This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to the Asian markets and our determination to be the leader in video asset management in the BRIC markets. It also represents an extension to our existing IPTV systems integration capabilities—which support our larger-scale software implementations with broadcasters and network operators.”

SK Telecom and The Walt Disney Company announce the intent to form a joint venture to launch Korean-language Disney-branded channels in South Korea. This will be the first ever joint venture by The Walt Disney Company to launch Disney channels anywhere in the world.

As a part of the proposed agreement, the joint venture company plans to launch Korean-language versions of Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney Channel targeted at kids and family in South Korea. These two channels will be available in HD multiplex as well as SD format over cable, direct-to-home and IPTV platforms and related on-demand digital media services in South Korea. Anchored by Disney's much-loved characters and content for kids and families, the channels will air a significant proportion of locally produced, Korean-language programming. The launch of the channels is slated spring 2011 pending regulatory approval from the Korea Communications Commission.

Warner Bros. International Branded Services is launching its on-demand WarnerTV branded service for the first time ever in Korea via an agreement with KT's IPTV provider QOOK TV. The announcement was made today by Suk-Chae Lee, CEO, KT, and Malcolm Dudley-Smith, Executive Vice President–Business Management, Warner Bros. International Branded Services.

WarnerTV will launch as a video-on-demand service within QOOK TV at no extra charge for consumers who purchase QOOK TV's subscription video-on-demand programming package. Each week, WarnerTV will deliver new blockbuster theatrical motion pictures as well as popular American television sitcoms and dramas to QOOK TV viewers. At launch, QOOK TV subscribers will be able to enjoy over 150 blockbuster movies and more than 500 episodes of American television series titles through WarnerTV.

Pace is providing the set-top box technology to support the launch of Malaysia’s first HD service. ASTRO has selected Pace for the premium service, which launched in December 2009. ASTRO is Pace’s first HD customer in Asia.

ASTRO currently broadcasts over 100 payTV channels across Malaysia and Brunei to over 2.8 million subscribers in multiple languages. With Pace’s DS830NA set-top box, ASTRO was able to add five new HD channels initially to its existing line-up of programming that includes HBO HD, ESPN HD, Astro Supersports HD, History HD and National Geographic HD. Offering full MPEG-4 support and integrated ethernet capability, the DS830NA will be core to ASTRO’s long term expansion plans, providing the operator with the flexibility to develop its digital portfolio through the rollout of new HD services and other interactive service applications.

Jilin Cable Network has selected Espial MediaBase to power their on-demand services. Jilin Cable Network is located in the central part of northeast China and serves three million TV subscribers. Using Espial MediaBase, they already offer Video-On-Demand, TV On-Demand, Network Personal Video Recorder and Timeshift-TV services to hundreds of thousands of subscribers using more than 60 Time-Shift TV channel captures.

Hong Kong Broadband Network announces a partnership with Disney-ABC International Television, Asia Pacific, the integrated distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company, to launch Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney Channel starting 16 December 2009, as part of the channel package tailored for children and education on HKBN's bbTV IPTV platform.

BNS has successfully completed phase one of Max Media Co. Limited's community-based IPTV service deployment in Taiwan. Over 1,500 homes have been connected in the first phase of the service roll out which is on track to be launched to a further 3,000+ buildings within the next five years, representing 10% of Taiwan's population.

Espial announces that Chongqing Cable TV Network has selected Espial MediaBase to power their on-demand services. Chongqing Cable TV Network is located in the southwest of China and provides analog and digital TV services to 4.2 million subscribers. With this launch, they establish themselves as one of the most innovative cable operators in the world. Using Espial MediaBase, they can now offer Video-On-Demand, TV On-Demand, Network PVR and Timeshift-TV services. With this line-up of on-demand services now launched, Chongqing Cable TV Network will begin converting their entire subscriber base to digital TV services over the next few years.