Netgem announced that Sure has partnered with Netgem to launch a new hybrid IPTV service for its customers in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

By working with Netgem, Sure has been able to make use of its broadband network to deliver Over the Top live and non-linear content to a hybrid STB. This means the operator can now add premium TV to its bouquet of services and offer its customers triple and quad play packages.

The new service is powered by Netgem's N8200 hybrid PVR integrating its nCloud middleware; subscribers will benefit from a brand-new TV experience that supplements UK DVB-T2 free-to-air channels for popular non-linear entertainment content and a fluid and consistent user interface.

Numéricable has selected the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform and gigabit passive optical network technology to upgrade its service delivery platform in Belgium and Luxembourg. Calix, along with optical specialist Arcadiz Telecom, will work closely to roll out Numéricable’s new high-speed broadband networks to deliver business services across the region. The new platform will enable Numéricable’s customers to take advantage of advanced voice, video, and data services at symmetrical speeds ranging from 30 megabits per second (30 Mbps) up to 1 gigabit per second (1 Gbps).

Numéricable serves over 150,000 customers in Brussels with triple-play services for residential subscribers. Owned by Coditel and with a close relationship to the French Numéricable organization, with whom it shares a range of resources, Numéricable Belgium is a long-established operator with a highly dispersed coax cable network. The company has traditionally delivered triple-play residential services over its hybrid fiber coax infrastructure, but in recent years has moved increasingly towards using its fiber to connect businesses and has developed a number of specific niche markets. The company is now looking at ways to maximize the potential of its fiber infrastructure in Belgium and Luxembourg and deliver revenue-generating advanced services to its business customers.

Harmonic announces that Belgian telecom operator Alpha Networks has launched its Billi IPTV and OTT services, as well as hosted service offerings for international operators, based on a full complement of Harmonic video processing, server, and storage solutions. Utilizing an integrated and unified framework, Harmonic's video platforms enable Alpha Networks to deliver high-quality HD video services cost-effectively to multiple viewing devices, including connected TVs, PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

Alpha Networks' headend relies on a combination of Harmonic's video processing solutions to manage the complexity of IPTV and OTT applications and deliver high-quality SD and HD, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video with a reduced footprint. For live IPTV encoding, ProStream 1000 with ACE high-density stream processers transcode up to 60 SD or 20 HD broadcast services per RU - while reducing Alpha Networks' energy costs with no more than 10 watts per channel. ProMedia Live carrier-grade transcoding and ProMedia Package adaptive streaming preparation systems transcode and package multiple H.264 video streams for adaptive bitrate delivery of live multiscreen OTT content.

Celebro Media Networks join BBC World Service in celebrating a month of successful operation of its first IPTV international news service. The BBC Russian news bulletins offer a round-up of the day’s main stories - streamed live Monday to Friday at 16:00 and 20:00 Moscow time on Russia’s popular 24-hour live IPTV channel Dozhd TV - tvrain.ru. They are also available on bbcrussian.com.

Celebro Media Networks have completed work on the major IPTV launch for BBC World Service and managed it through all stages of this project to deliver the BBC Russian IPTV service. As well as developing the programme format and training staff, Celebro Media Networks’ consultants implemented the technical infrastructure for live production and transmission. This is the first time BBC World Service produced content as an IPTV operation streaming it direct from London to Moscow via a high-speed Internet connection in broadcast quality without the costs of traditional TV transmission. Russia's IPTV station Dozhd TV (which translates as TV Rain), dubbed the 'Optimistic Channel' celebrates 2 years of its operation on 27 April.

Orange launches "la nouvelle TV d'Orange", a next-generation subscription TV service which allows Orange to upgrade its IPTV service with a state-of-the-art user-experience and prepare the infrastructure for the new challenges of Over-the-Top video, multiple screens and unlimited content. "la nouvelle TV d'Orange" boasts a new user interface, which includes VOD, CatchUp TV, content discovery and recommendations, EPG, PVR, self-developed applications and more.

Viaccess a leader in content security solutions, and its fully-owned subsidiary Orca Interactive, a pioneer and leader in IPTV middleware, provide a unified service platform which includes the Service Delivery Platform, Content Discovery platform, Conditional Access System and native multi-screen solution. It is adapted for IPTV, OTT delivery and Hybrid, combining different delivery modes.

Verimatrix announces that Serbia Broadband and Telemach have deployed the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System for Internet TV platform, to fuel new over-the-top video services and provide enhanced revenue security.

SBB and Telemach's expanded OTT services are based on the HTTP Live Streaming standard delivery protocol, and features streaming over SBB and Telemach networks. HLS has been integrated on three different client platforms to date, including Android, PC/Mac and iOS with set-top boxes expected to be ready in the near future to support the launch of 60 live channels, 40 catch-up TV channels, and video-on-demand content. The service is currently available to the customers of SBB and Telemach, but this integrated solution will also enable these operators to offer their programming to communities outside their traditional cable footprint.

Sunrise Communications has selected Entone as its set-top box partner for the deployment of advanced IPTV services. Sunrise has long been an innovative provider of premium residential and business services that include fiber-based broadband Internet, mobile solutions, advanced IP services and wireline telephony. Due to its dedication to customer satisfaction and innovative vision, Sunrise is now the largest private telecommunications provider in Switzerland, with almost 3 million subscribers, and growing.

Swiss IPTV wholesaler Netstream is hosting a new IPTV headend platform based on Harmonic's portfolio of encoding and transcoding products. Swiss distributor Adrenio installed Harmonic Electra 8000 universal SD/HD MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC encoders, ProStream 1000 stream processors with ACE transcoders, and the NMX digital service manager, enabling Netstream to offer competitive IPTV services to major Swiss telcos.

The market-leading 1-RU Electra 8000 encoders deployed by Netstream significantly enhance bandwidth efficiency while delivering broadcast-quality video streams. Additionally, the encoders offer a rich feature set that eases operational requirements such as density and power efficiency, and will allow Netstream to launch additional value-added video services in the future.

Exterity announces that True Colours has been appointed as a distributor for Exterity’s product portfolio in the UK.

Following the success of the StreamForce partner program throughout 2011, which includes nearly 100 partners, Exterity needed to ensure it had the right distributor in place to service customers effectively. As part of the agreement, True Colours will use its scale, expertise and knowledge of the AV market to provide channel partners with the complete range of Exterity products. This includes Exterity’s AvediaStream Encoder, Transcoder and TVgateway families, the newly launched AvediaServer 4 and the complete range of AvediaPlayer Receivers and desktop clients.

This new distribution relationship enables partners to fully benefit from the high growth IPTV market. Continuing to defy the economic pressures being faced by other industries, Exterity’s IPTV solutions will help maintain strong revenue streams for channel partners.

Sky announces plans to launch a new service allowing customers to watch some of its most popular content over the internet. Taking advantage of the rapid growth in broadband-connected devices, and building on Sky's experience in multi-platform TV, the new service will be an additional choice for people who don't currently subscribe to a pay TV service.

Launching in the first half of 2012, the new service will provide instant and simple access to a range of Sky content, including hundreds of films from Sky Movies. Giving consumers even more choice and flexibility, the service will be available to anyone in the UK with a broadband connection.

MobiTV and Deutsche Telekom are partnering to develop a converged media platform that will enable the delivery of content across multiple platforms including mobile phones, tablets, PCs, Internet TVs and set-top boxes (STB). Deutsche Telekom will integrate MobiTV’s TV Everywhere solution to support the commercial release of its converged media services.

The first phase of the technology partnership began with a trial implementation of the converged multi-screen service that integrates MobiTV’s TV Everywhere solution into Deutsche Telekom existing IPTV service "Entertain." As a key component of the convergence service ecosystem, MobiTV’ s TV Everywhere solution will enable Deutsche Telekom’s IPTV subscribers to view both live and on demand video content on authorized PCs, tablets and smartphone devices.

Deutsche Telekom has selected Celeno's CL1820 Wi-Fi chip and OptimizAIR technology to power its Speedport W 102 Bridge.

The Speedport W 102 Bridge will enable Deutsche Telekom to distribute its popular "Entertain" IPTV service wirelessly throughout the home to consumers in Germany. With around 140 TV channels, 15,000 titles, 2,500 national and international radio stations, and interactive applications, Entertain is the undisputed leader of the German IPTV market.

With the Speedport W 102 Bridge, German consumers can now enjoy their Entertain IPTV service on multiple STBs, receiving content wirelessly, and share multi-room DVR content wirelessly.

Envivio announces that Altibox has deployed Envivio 4Caster C4 Gen III encoders to power the new Altibox Chill multi-screen streaming service. Chill delivers 40 channels of video as well as the Altibox library of VOD content to PCs, Macs, iOS and Android devices using HTTP adaptive bit-rate streaming in Microsoft Smooth Streaming format. Altibox plans to expand the service to more devices in coming months.

Envivio 4Caster is a versatile platform that performs a variety of functions—including multi-profile encoding, transcoding, packaging, encryption and publishing—in a single system that delivers broadcast-quality TV, HTTP streaming and 3GPP mobile video.

Vision IPTV announces it has signed a multi-year agreement with China Central Television to distribute three of the network’s channels to UK audiences via the latest broadband connected FreeviewHD televisions and set top boxes.

Vision IPTV is a specialist provider of live broadcast over the internet and has the capability to extend high quality internet based viewing experiences onto connected FreeviewHD devices. This enables international broadcasters such as CCTV, the national TV station of the People´s Republic of China, for the first time to reach expatriate viewers in their living rooms via their FreeviewHD device.

Netgem has been selected by P&TLuxembourg, Luxembourg's leading telecom operator, to upgrade its service to next-generation IPTV offering. Netgem will provide P&T with its software and intelligent set top boxes to give its subscribers a unique rich TV experience. The enhanced service will be rolled out in October 2011.

A great new and enriched TV experience

The use of Netgem's nCloud architecture, based on its embedded software and intelligent set-top boxes, gives P&T the flexibility to integrate value added content, including Video On Demand, the popular Catch-up TV service from RTL Luxembourg and other Internet applications, regardless of whether this comes from P&Ts managed IPTV or unmanaged Over-The-Top network.