Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. and Alticast have signed a new, multi-year, interactive program guide patent license agreement. Under the agreement, Alticast has the right to use Gemstar-TV Guide's interactive program guide (IPG) patents for IPGs developed and owned by Alticast for cable, satellite and telco providers in South Korea. Alticast is a leading provider of solutions for the creation, delivery and reception of interactive digital television applications for cable, satellite and IPTV platforms.

OpenTV Corp. announced that the latest generation of its personal video recording solution, OpenTV PVR 2.0, is now in general release for network operators and set-top box manufactures worldwide.

OpenTV PVR 2.0 is a complete platform for personal video recording with support for standard and advanced features including push VOD and remote event booking. OpenTV PVR 2.0 also includes the OpenTV streaming file system, designed for PVR based usage, aimed at increasing the reliability and life span of disk drives. OpenTV PVR 2.0 provides network operators with a solution that is truly manufacturer and CA-independent. OpenTV PVR 2.0 is built on OpenTV's leading set-top box middleware, OpenTV Core 2.0, OpenTV's fourth generation of set-top middleware, with an architecture and features to support the rapidly expanding requirements of advanced digital television set-top boxes including PVR, VOD, IPTV, HDTV and home networking.

Envivio Inc. will introduce the newest member of its 4Caster Broadcast Series real time MPEG-4 encoders at IBC2005 in its stand #1.351. Ideal for applications from contribution to distribution, the 4Caster B3 encoder delivers the most complete implementation of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression techniques available in hardware today.

Modulus Video, Inc., unveiled details of a comprehensive demonstration of MPEG-4 AVC encoding solutions that will be on display at the International Broadcasters Convention, RAI Centre, Amsterdam, Stand 1.144, as well as at partner booth's located throughout the show. Solutions from Modulus Video enable satellite, telecommunications and cable providers to deliver new HD digital television services with the highest quality high definition (HD) video using the least amount of bandwidth.

BitBand announced that it was selected by B2 (Bredbandsbolaget) for deploying VOD services in Sweden. B2 has recently launched triple play services delivered over its high capacity network to homes in Sweden, offering telephony services, broadband Internet access, TV and VOD.

B2, Sweden's second largest broadband supplier, has a growing network that currently reaches 70 locations all over the country. BitBand's solutions employed with B2 are BitBand Maestro(TM) content distribution and server management suite and BitBand Vision(TM) servers. Coupled with B2's high capacity network (up to 100 Mbits/s), BitBand preserves the high quality of content viewed by subscribers, resulting in greater subscriber satisfaction and increased revenues.

Ono, Wanadoo, and T-Online Will Use Unbundled DSL Service to Capture Market Share from the Spanish Incumbent

The broadband market in Spain has received a competitive boost, according to the latest Broadband Media & Communications service research from Strategy Analytics, "Competitors Converge on Telefonica in Spain's Booming Broadband Market," which notes that the pending merger between cable operators, Auna and Ono, puts further pressure on Spain's Telefonica to capture new broadband subscribers. The Spanish incumbent - already strained by competing with fellow DSL operators Wanadoo and T-Online - will now likely fall short of its target of 50 percent market share target by 2008. For these competitors, unbundled DSL service will be a critical factor in determining market success or failure, as the ability to differentiate and leverage economies of scale will become increasingly important in the years to come.

Sentivision KK and SecureMedia, Inc. announced that SecureMedia's Encryptonite System^TM CA/DRM client is fully integrated on the Sentivision SV-500 set-top box. With the integration, Sentivision offers IPTV operators a fully secured consumer premise device for receiving and displaying protected video content.

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. announced a new line of photodiode products for the resurgent optical communications market. The first two products in the family, the VSC7750 and VSC7780, are designed for use in the optical receiver side of both the Small Form Factor (SFF) and its pluggable counterpart (SFP). These modules are being used in the growing Ethernet and multi-rate Fibre Channel markets as well as for Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) applications. The VSC7750 and VSC7780 provide a cost model not achieved to date in the industry while enabling customers to reduce design cycles by as much as 14 weeks when combined with Vitesse's proven reference designs. These products support both long (1310-1550 nm) and short (850 nm) optical wavelength applications, respectively.

Narrowstep Inc. -- the TV on the Internet Company, will be exhibiting at IBC -- the Content Creation, Management and Delivery Show at the RAI Exhibition and Congress Centre, Amsterdam between 9 - 13 September.

Narrowstep, which has just become a public company in the US, will be demonstrating the power of TV on IP channels distributed to broadband, broadcast and mobile, and how content owners, cable companies, ISPs and production companies can create and run their own TV channels which are deliverable to multiple devices.

Iolo Jones, CEO of Narrowstep said, "Anyone can now own and operate their own TV channel and reach a global audience of over 300 million. We provide all the tools required in one solution."

Digital television guide expert, GIST Communications, Inc. has begun a commercial offering of UGuide^TM: a market-shaping, mobile EPG that analyzes TV viewers' program preferences, then delivers personalized recommendations directly to the cell phone or other mobile device. Gist's UGuide gives viewers true remote control, enabling them to use cell phones to schedule recordings on PVR's at home - powerful, easy to use technology that delivers effective results. The UGuide can be deployed as a resident application on a cell phone or PDA, or as a web-based product.

Video Without Boundaries, Inc. announced that its MediaREADY 5000 Advanced Digital Media Center has been chosen by Brightbox, Inc., a new company, as the basis of Brightbox's innovative Internet TV content delivery concept. Brightbox, which plans to private-label the MediaREADY 5000 under the Brightbox brand, will sell the unit through a network marketing program focused on delivering a wide range of programming including entertainment, learning, shopping and more to the general public. The initial contract is in excess of $500,000 with options for significant incremental shipments which will be announced separately based on successful product sell through.

Terayon Communication Systems, Inc. announced that its DM 6400 Network CherryPicker® digital video networking platform supports the MPEG-4/AVC format and is the first product to enable standards-based digital program insertion and splicing of programming in the MPEG-4/AVC format. Terayon is demonstrating the world's first ad insertion and real-time splicing of MPEG-4/AVC video streams at the IBC Conference (stand 8.510), September 8-13, 2005 in Amsterdam.

TANDBERG Television announced that it has signed a contract with Siemens to provide Dutch telco KPN with a flexible EN5930 encoding system which can simultaneously transmit both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC standard definition television. KPN is adding IPTV to its existing communication services and plans to introduce digital television over its DSL network for the first time this year. Internet Protocol means it is possible that television, telephone and internet will eventually be provided over a single DSL connection.

Alcatel announced results from leading research analysts that show it is taking significant market share in the global Service Provider Edge IP Router market segment, and continuing to strengthen its position in the worldwide multi-service switching (MSWAN) market. Alcatel's success is fuelled by triple play applications, Ethernet- and IP-based VPNs, and aggregation of broadband and mobile traffic.

27% of US households interested in interactive TV by ZDNet's ZDNet Research -- Consumers interested in interactive services such as voting on game shows, targeted advertising, and gaming, who total 27% of all US households, represent a lucrative early market for IPTV services and applications, according to Parks Associates. Service providers, particularly telecom operators, could boost current revenues on their quad-play service packages, which include voice, data, video, [...]