The TelcoTV conference kept us busy this week. Triple play, VoIP, and IPTV services were blinking in bright lights as companies announced new partnerships, products, and rollouts. If you haven't been in the loop, take a look at our week in review for the latest IPTV news.

In other headlines, there are two articles in particular we found interesting this week:

• First, drop on over to informitv to read William Cooper's first-look at the BBC's integrated Media Player (iMP). The article is a great write-up by a seasoned professional and includes over 10 screen shots of the future player.
  
  iMP - First impressions of BBC media player trial
  Informitv - November 7, 2005
  "The BBC iMP or integrated Media Player project is a broadband service that will enable selected television and radio programmes to be downloaded over the internet up to seven days after first transmission. Based on experience with the trial service, informitv offers an extended review of the innovative offering."
  
  
• Next, don't miss this entertaining column by the great writer, John Dvorak.
  
  Whitacre: Threat or Menace? You Tell Me
  PC Magazine - November 7, 2005
  "Worse, they (Whitacre or Newsweek—you tell me) believe that the "triple play" is phone, Internet, and mobile. The triple play in anyone's parlance refers to three services that come over one conduit. How do you get mobile over the one conduit that is carrying phone and Internet? This is a flaky and wrong use of the term. In fact, it's an idiotic use of the term. It's as if in baseball you'd call two outs and a hot dog a triple play. It just makes no sense unless you want to call any three things, no matter how discrepant, a triple play."

Here are some other good reads...

Scaling IPTV: Progress at SBC
Light Reading - November 11, 2005
"Light Reading reported last spring that Microsoft's IPTV middleware required one server for every 10 subscribers in order for the system's instantaneous channel-changing to work properly. A source close to the situation says the Microsoft middleware can now service far more subscribers -- into the thousands -- with a single server."

Siemens Spawns a Problem Child
Light Reading - November 11, 2005
"Siemens AG CEO Klaus Kleinfeld says his company has two problem children -- one of them is telecom business unit Siemens Communications Group (Com)."

"Of the company's 12 business units (including power, water, and health systems, among others), the CEO picked out the Com group, and IT services division Siemens Business Services (SBS), for special attention in today's conference call."

Deutsche Telekom, TI Set to Spend Big on Broadband
Light Reading - November 9, 2005
"European carrier giants Deutsche Telekom AG and Telecom Italia SpA are set to invest heavily in the next few years to ramp up customer gains in their mobile and broadband businesses."

"The news comes as competition for broadband customers intensifies, with local loop unbundling and regulatory changes attracting more players (including non-traditional service providers) into the access market, and as 3G gains momentum in Europe."

DoubleClick's Bruner: Internet Marketing Has Come of Age
DMNews.com - November 8, 2005
"The growing popularity of shows like ad:tech, Search Engine Strategies, eTail and Shop.org’s summits — with attendees and exhibitors alike — is proof that interactive advertising and marketing are a key component of any marketer’s budget. Search, e-mail, affiliate and even display advertising have become indispensable tools for attracting and retaining customers and prospects online and offline."

Consumers Warm To Internet TV On Mobile Phones
Techweb - November 7, 2005
"Consumers are showing early demand for watching TV programming over the Internet on desktop computers, portable players and mobile phones, researchers said Monday."

Fancy your own TV channel?
Stuff Magazine - November 5, 2005
"Ever fancied having your own Wayne’s World-style television show? Well, BT’s new TV-over-broadband service, which launches in 2006, will allow you to go one better and have an entire channel to yourself."

Amsterdam Commits to FTTH
Light Reading - November 4, 2005
"Amsterdam is to embark on a major fiber-to-the-home project, potentially the largest in Europe, that could see most of the Dutch capital's homes connected by 2010."

"The €30 million (US$35.9 million) FTTH project -- officially called Glasvezelnet Amsterdam BV (GNA) but better known as CityNet -- will initially connect 40,000 homes, about 10 percent of the city."