Cisco and Scientific Atlanta continued to top headlines this week with predictions of how the combined company will fare. Light Reading writes that further mergers and acquisitions are close behind in the IPTV space.

In other news, we'd like to document a lesson learned from Sony's fiasco in Digital Rights Management (DRM): Don't write poorly written backdoor/spyware software that exposes consumers PCs to hackers in an effort to protect digital rights. If you haven't kept up with this story, the Attorney General for the state of Texas filed a lawsuit against Sony BMG for their rootkit software. The Texas suit alleges the so-called XCP technology that Sony BMG had quietly included on more than 50 CD titles violates the Texas Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware (CPACS) Act.

"Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," said Greg Abbot, the Texas attorney-general. "Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime."

You can read more about the Sony BMG fiasco at The Register.

Here are the other headlines...

China Expands IPTV Coverage
Light Reading - November 23, 2005
"China's IPTV market is on fire, with mainland carriers lining up further service trials as Hong Kong's PCCW Ltd. reaches a customer milestone and plans its next generation of services."

CBS talking to Google about video options
USA Today - November 22, 2005
"U.S. television network CBS is in discussions with Internet media company Google about video search and on-demand video, CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said Tuesday."

"Viacom-owned CBS, which is in the process of splitting itself apart from the faster growing MTV cable networks and Paramount film studios, is seeking other distribution outlets for its top-ranked shows including the CSI franchise."

Analysts Doubt Ericsson/UTStarcom Deal
Light Reading - November 22, 2005
"Rumors surfaced in the Chinese press Monday that Ericsson AB is mulling an acquisition of UTStarcom Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI - message board), but Western analysts aren’t seeing it."

IPTV gets cool reception in UK
The Register - November 21, 2005
"Broadband TV has yet to take off in the UK despite the fact that it is regarded as one of the oldest IPTV markets in Europe."

"Stiff competition from satellite giant Sky and the soon-to-merge cablecos NTL and Telewest has meant that the UK has failed to jump onto the IPTV bandwagon, according to a new report from ScreenDigest."

IPTV's Economic Realities
Light Reading - November 21, 2005
"As students of Boyle's law will recall, gasses expand to fill the space available. In the telecom world, applications expand to fill the bandwidth available. Such is the case with bandwidth-hungry IPTV services: As the costs of deploying broadband access have fallen and the amount of data that can be pumped downstream has increased, mass-market IPTV has gone from being a pipe dream in the 1990s to a reality in the 2000s."

Expect More IPTV M&A
Light Reading - November 21, 2005
"In the wake of the Cisco Systems Inc. acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta Inc. announced Friday, close observers of the IPTV space see more M&A activity coming as vendors position to offer "end-to-end" solutions."

IPTV 'to take 9% of Euro pay-TV'
C21Media - November 21, 2005
"The impact of IPTV will be felt most in Spain, France and Italy over the next few years, with the technology accounting for 9.4% of the European pay-TV market by 2009, according to a recent report."

Cisco Systems übernimmt Scientific-Atlanta
PorTel - November 21, 2005
"Cisco Systems, Inc. und Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. haben ein definitives Abkommen über den Kauf von Scientific-Atlanta durch Cisco geschlossen. Scientific-Atlanta ist ein weltweit führender Anbieter von Set-Top-Boxen, End-to-End-Video-Verbreitungsnetzwerken und Video-System-Integration. Zusammengenommen ist das eine End-to-End-Triple-Play-Lösung für Carrier-Netzwerke und das digitale Zuhause. Nach Abschluss der Übernahme werden die Lösungen von Scientific-Atlanta Teil des Advanced-Technology-Portfolios von Cisco."