It was a busy week sifting through the IPTV and Internet TV headlines. This may be our biggest one week list to-date of headlines relating to IPTV or Internet TV.

In headlines not mentioned here since we covered them through the week:

• UK's ITV launched an Internet TV station featuring local communities. We'll be working on adding that to our Internet TV directory.
• IPTV companies are gearing up for the Telecom '05 conference taking place next week in Las Vegas. Click over to our IPTV Events section for more information.

In not-so-related to IPTV news, be sure to catch up on the latest developments in the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD battle.

Here are the headlines...

BSKyB buys Easynet for £211m
PC Pro - october 21, 2005
"The deal will enable the company to add broadband, IP telephony and video-on-demand services to its satellite TV offerings and make it better equipped to compete with the soon-to-merge merged cable TV and broadband companies NTL and Telewest."

Video on the go: Never leave home without it
Orlando Sentinel - October 20, 2005
If you aren't one who has kept up with all the evolving technology regarding mobile video, this is a good summary article.

"Verizon Wireless offers video to cell phones through its V Cast service. RCA, Samsung, Video Without Boundaries and others make portable video players with bigger screens than the iPod's. The Sling Media Slingbox beams your home TV signal to your broadband-connected laptop or desktop, no matter where you are in the world. Sony's PlayStation Portable lets you play full-length movies on a small, high-definition screen. And the French company Archos even makes a video player that hooks up to your cable box or satellite receiver and records the shows you want, like a portable DVR.

Is Your TV Following You?
AlwaysOn - October 20, 2005
"Sling Media appears to have done a lot with limited resources; it raised $10.5 million in 2004 and has been able to bring the Slingbox to market on that financing. In our interview we pushed Blake a little on numbers and all we were able to squeeze out of him was that the company had "generated more in revenue than it had raise in capital." He also said that the company's first shipment to stores sold out in the first 72 hours it was available, and that about 10,000 units were sold in the first few weeks post-launch. Sling launched the Slingbox nationally in July through CompUSA and Best Buy—a feat which according to Blake had never before been accomplished by a startup company of their size."

Cable TV can be regulated only by competition: Baijal
Indiantelevision.com - October 20, 2005
"MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Pradip Baijal is keen to have competition in the cable TV sector. And he feels it is direct-to-home (DTH) and IPTV operators who can set the field for that."

"The cable TV sector is a very difficult area. The only way to regulate it is to bring in competition. Only DTH and IPTV when they come in, can make it happen," he said on the sidelines of a telecom and broadband summit.

IPTV Challenges Regulatory Models
internetnews.com - October 20, 2005
Interesting article about the boxing match going on between the Telco, Cableco, and third parties.

"Two old foes and an implacable critic of both squared off in a Senate hearing Wednesday on the Baby Bells' $10 billion IPTV bet."

McCormick contended that the cable industry is using the franchising process as a "barrier to entry that it will use to insulate itself from competition for as long as possible."

"This led Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America, to again put the needle to his longtime antagonists in both the telephone and cable industries, noting that if Congress is really interested in lowering monthly bills, it should force the cable companies to sell a la carte channels."

SBC Plans IPTV for Businesses
Light Reading - October 19, 2005
"SBC Communications Inc. will announce later this year plans to extend its IPTV service from residences to its high-value corporate customers, a technology supplier close to the situation tells Light Reading."

Shanghai Tries IPTV Tests In New Zones
ChinaTechNews.com - October 19, 2005
"Shanghai Telecom will tomorrow initiate another test of IPTV services. This time it has chosen both Shanghai's Minxing District and the Pudong New Area for the roll-out."

Cable Industry: Telcos Apparently Got What They Paid For
Telecomweb - October 18, 2005
"We¹ve never been sure about exactly which “consumers” many consumers’ groups purport to represent, but TelecomWeb news digest’s sister publication CableFAX has given us a clearer view of just who Consumers for Cable Choice represents."

Analysis: How To Turn The iPod Into IPTV
ExtremeVoIP - October 18, 2005
"Gigabit Ethernet in the last mile. Terabyte personal video recorders. Ultrawideband home networks. The list of technological breakthroughs touted by broadcasters, network operators, and consumer electronics companies goes on and on."