UTStarcom, Inc., a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and services, today announced contracts with China Telecom to deploy its RollingStream end-to-end IPTV solution in two cities in the Fujian Province in southern China.

Well, we tried something different this week with the IPTV headlines. Rather than waiting till the end of the week to share some interesting headlines, we have been posting them as we come across them throughout the week. This way the content gets categorized into our system and provides more "real-time" coverage.

One story we didn't cover was AT&T's warnings to several large companies including Apple on patent infringement. AT&T is claiming ownership to several patents that are essential components of MPEG-4 and asking companies using the technology to obtain licenses. Our question is what kind of impact does this have on those companies?

ROO, one of the world's largest online broadcasters and provider of turnkey broadband TV solutions for content creators, publishers and advertisers, debuted its next-generation video content management system, G6 Enterprise. This new Internet video content management system is now providing clients with total control over the management and presentation of both their own online videos and as well as clips from ROO's extensive video library. The current G6 Media Publishing Platform is used by more than 100 ROO-powered client sites.

Erik Sass of MediaPost Publications writes about the media summit that took place in New York Thursday and illustrates how the Internet has created a cultural divide in advertising. "I think, really, it's about culture--it's not about numbers," Mitch Oscar of Carat Digital said. "When I see a campaign on Google that says an Adidas ad generated 5 million clicks that day, I don't know what that means. I don't know where to put it: I was trained that if "Desperate Housewives" does 10 million households, that's meaningful to me and I can do a cost per point. We haven't put the two plans together." Read the full story.

Video choice and hundreds of millions of dollars of broadband investment are coming to Texas faster than other states because of legislation passed last year by the Texas lawmakers, said Lea Ann Champion, AT&T senior executive vice president-IP operations and services.

At a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearing in Texas on video competition, Champion touted the Texas state bill, which eliminated barriers to broadband investment and enabled a clear path to deployment of AT&T's U-verse services, bringing consumers an innovative new option for their TV and entertainment services.

GlobeVISION, Inc. announced it is launching an on demand Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service for Asian-Americans in North America, and has already forged content deals with three media giants.

Content deals with Korea's two largest private broadcasters, MBC and SBS, as well as CJ Media, Korea's largest cable media group, will allow PIE service to deliver tens of thousands of Korean and Chinese television and movie programming choices directly from Asia to the TV sets of subscribers in North America. The service is available now on a trial basis in Southern California and will begin serving Asian-Americans across the U.S. and Asian-Canadians on July 1st.

Tune in to ITV's new broadband TV site - ITV Local - to see Genesis Brighton Bears, with NBA star Dennis Rodman, play BBL Trophy champions Springfield Honda Newcastle Eagles live from the Brighton Centre on Tuesday 14 February.

The price of this live event is £7.50 and inclues a 150-minute programme featuring pre-match interviews and behind-the-scenes news. The event will start at 6.30pm GMT.

Numbers of viewers are limited, so fans are advised to pre-register for the match from Friday 10 February.

IMS Research estimates that by the end of 2005, over 2.6 million households in Europe were using a DVR. By 2010, this market is forecast to reach over 41 million households. Growth is expected to come primarily from operator deployments of integrated DVRs, although DTT and FTA satellite DVRs will make a significant contribution to the total market.

The Age provides a good overview of IPTV, next-generation networks, triple-play, and what it means for telecoms. If you're new to the technology, this is a good read.

The article also offers a view on the Australian regulatory environment and industry, "As I have often written in the past, the Australian Government does not realise any of this is happening. Its ridiculous attempts to restrict certain types of service to certain media have made it a laughing stock in the industry. Digital TV has been hamstrung by restrictions on licences and the less said of the datacasting debacle the better. And they think broadband is ADSL." Check it out in its entirety.

NBC Universal is aiming to offer movies and television shows on-demand via IPTV. But wait, to receive the shows, you will first need a set top box by Aeon Digital. The Aeon Digital DV-200 will deliver IPTV at a cost of $299 and will allow viewers to access music, television shows, and movies. On demand titles will be available for a 24-hour viewing period after purchase.

The Bucks County borough of Hulmeville Monday night (Feb. 6) launched a new era in cable choice for Pennsylvanians, thanks to a unanimous Borough Council vote authorizing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV.

Hulmeville Borough is the first Pennsylvania jurisdiction to grant Verizon a cable franchise.

The Bradenton City Council awarded a far-reaching video franchise to Verizon for its FiOS TV product, to be delivered via its new, all-fiber network.

The Bradenton franchise brings competition and consumer choice to 54,000 residents in the city. It marks the second franchise granted in this community, following the affirmative decision reached by the Manatee County Commission in August 2005. Bradenton joins Manatee County, Temple Terrace and Hillsborough County as the fourth municipality in Florida to grant a franchise to Verizon as the company continues its campaign to be permitted to deliver television services to customers in its service territory.

BusinessWeek provides insight into the success and marketing savvy of Janice Lee who has helped make PCCW's NOW Broadband into the leading provider of IPTV. NOW Broadband has more than 500,000 subscribers, one-third of the total worldwide. How did they do it? Well, PCCW offers customers a la carte programming rather than packages and provides viewers interactive features such as the chance to vote in polls or reserve movie tickets via their TV just to name a few features. That's not all though. Lee is constantly on the move adapting the companies products and services around the response of their subscribers. Read the full story.

Quova, Inc., the leading provider of Internet geolocation data and services, announced a landmark agreement that will enable Rai-TV, Italy's state public broadcast network, to deliver online live and on-demand streaming of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin. RaiNet, the Internet subsidiary of broadcast giant RAI S.p.A., has deployed Quova Media, the first geolocation solution for digital rights management, to power targeted streaming video feeds to online viewers in Italy.

SkyWay Connect, Inc., an IP/ASI-based video distribution provider, announced that it is working with PanAmSat to deliver IPTV services to small and mid-sized cable systems and telcos across North America based on the SkyWay Connect MPEG-4 AVC video distribution platform.