Sprint and the National Football League (NFL) today announced the completion of a groundbreaking deal that secures Sprint as the official wireless telecommunications service sponsor of the NFL, marking an historic arrangement that reaches beyond marquee branding and delivers first-ever, exclusive NFL content and original programming.

TANDBERG Television will provide IBC visitors with a clear picture of the technologies that improve the quality, choice and economics of digital TV. The company will highlight developments in its first-to-market, fully integrated video compression systems for SD and HD. IBC will also see the debut of TANDBERG Television 's newly integrated N2 On-Demand Solutions with systems for broadcast and dynamic content management and delivery, as well as broadband cable and IPTV VoD.

PanAmSat announced that its new Galaxy 14 satellite successfully soared into space at 9:08 p.m. ET on August, 13th, 2005. Launched into orbit by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Galaxy 14 is the 24th satellite in PanAmSat's fleet. The satellite, to be co-located with Galaxy 12 at 125 degrees west longitude, will enable PanAmSat to have two in-orbit spares for its U.S. fleet, allowing the Company to continue to provide the highest fleet redundancy and reliability in the FSS industry. Although designated a back-up satellite, the powerful all C-band spacecraft is designed to deliver digital video programming, high-definition television (HDTV), VOD and IPTV service throughout the continental U.S.

It was a relatively quiet week for IPTV and Internet TV.

• Companies continued to report their second quarter results this week.
• Telecom companies won a large battle against the cable companies in Texas.
• Powerline networking continues to show no signs of a short-out.
• Our Internet TV station listing continues to grow.

Here are some other interesting reads...

Oregan Networks Ltd, a leading supplier of embedded software building blocks for IPTV and multi-room entertainment platforms, and ZyXEL Communications Corp., the world's largest DSL router provider (Gartner, July 2004), today announced that the two companies have concluded a partnership agreement, aiming to cater for the fast-developing Tripleplay-to-TV market.

The telecommunications bill that previously failed in Texas has been passed by the House and Senate in a special session. The bill will allow telephone companies the ability to obtain a state-wide franchise agreement rather than many municipality agreements to enable delivery of Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). The bill now awaits final approval by Texas Governor Rick Perry.

SnapStream Media, Inc., a leader in digital home entertainment products, announced the launch of localized French, German, and British versions of its award-winning DVR software, Beyond TV.

SnapStream's European launch allows European consumers to download the English, French or German-language free 21-day trial for Beyond TV and Beyond TV Link and then purchase product in local currencies online. Local microsites have been launched at...

Video Without Boundaries, Inc., a leading provider of interactive, media-convergent home entertainment devices, and SageTV, LLC, announced their collaboration to release the MediaREADY^TM 5000 Advanced Digital Media Center to the market powered by the Linux-based SageTV Media Center software. The SageTV software running on the MediaREADY^TM 5000 will enable complete Media Center capabilities, including PVR, DVD/CD burning, music and photo management, Web browsing, Email, and more.

SageTV, LLC, a pioneer in personal video recording and home media center solutions, has extended its data licensing agreement with Tribune Media Services (TMS) for the United States and will now offer full service guide data for Canada -- the first of its kind.

The new agreement provides SageTV with comprehensive U.S. and Canadian television listings information including analog, digital and over-the-air TV schedules as well as system-specific channel lineups. Localized data from TMS is used with the SageTV Media Center, the first PVR/media center solution designed for both PCs and TVs, run on Windows or Linux, and supports HDTV, multiple tuners, networking and intelligent recording.

Teknovus GEPON Solves Challenging Problems in IPTV and Triple-Play Services

Teknovus, the leading provider of EPON chipsets for the deployment of IPTV in broadband access networks, announced another industry first with the completion of third-party IEEE 802.3ah standards compliance testing for two Teknovus Gigabit EPON (GEPON) chipsets that are used in the deployment of triple-play communications, which includes the simultaneous delivery of IPTV/video, data, and voice. According to Dr. Rex Naden, CEO for Teknovus, a series of standards compliance tests were conducted by the prestigious University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). "Our intense focus on developing industry leading EPON technology has paid off," said Dr. Naden. "This testing complements the robust performance and capabilities of the Teknovus GEPON to enable superior roll-out of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks with dramatic impact to the bottom line of telecom company operations."

Intellon Corporation, the leading provider of HomePlug-compatible IC’s for home networking, networked entertainment and connected powerline applications, announced that Motorola Ventures, the equity investment arm of Motorola Inc., has invested in Intellon’s Series B equity financing round to further Intellon’s growth, advancing the company’s product and market development opportunities in the growing area of powerline communications.

Superior home entertainment and communications services are luring consumers to the North American residential video markets. Enhancements, including personal video recorders, video-on-demand (VoD), high-definition television (HDTV), and pay television services, help providers improve revenue streams and increase adoption rates. In 2004, more than 85 percent of television households in North America subscribed to multichannel video programming.

UTStarcom, Inc., a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and services, announced a partnership with Mude, one of the largest solutions distributors in the communication, security and data storage segments in Brazil. The two companies are partnering to deliver triple play solutions -- high-speed data, Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and IPTV services -- to the Brazilian telecom market.

ICTV, creator of HeadendWare, the broadband industry's most powerful platform for the delivery and distribution of compelling interactive television content, announced the availability of new features designed to enhance the subscriber experience and improve performance for cable and network operators.

Tut Systems Inc., an industry leader enabling the delivery of next-generationdata and video services over broadband networks, announced that Bixby Telephone, selected its Astria ® content processor video headend solution fordelivering advanced digital TV services over Bixby's broadband IP network.