Tut Systems, Inc. announced that it has secured contracts to upgrade existing IPTV headends to MPEG-4 AVC compression technology. The contracts were awarded by triple play pioneers that previously deployed MPEG-2 technology. The upgrades represent the third phase of new technology in the rapidly growing IPTV market that originally deployed MPEG-2 over ATM, followed by MPEG-2 over IP, and now MPEG-4 AVC over IP. The robust architecture of Tut Systems' Astria content processor (CP) has enabled a seamless and cost-effective transition between each stage, all from a single platform.

AOL and Warner Bros. are saying "Welcome Back" to thousands of classic TV shows with the launch of In2TV, the first broadband television network, on AOL.com. The network offers the largest collection of free on-demand TV shows on the Web, including full episodes of favorite Warner Bros. programs from the past 40 years such as Welcome Back, Kotter, Chico & The Man, Alice, Growing Pains, Sisters, Kung Fu, Lois & Clark and many others, along with interactive features and viral videos that enable audiences to experience and interact with television programming in an entirely new way. To celebrate the launch, AOL and Warner Bros. will host an event tonight at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills, with stars from the In2TV programming lineup scheduled to make appearances.

Telecomweb and Paul Erickson of IMS Research shed some interesting viewpoints on the AT&T/BellSouth merger and how it may affect the U.S. IPTV market.

The viewpoint is that a combined AT&T/BellSouth, because of their size, resources, and buying power, could hasten their IPTV rollout (See also AT&T May Speed BellSouth's IPTV Rollout in the Carolinas) and substantially increase their chances of success.

Scott Marshall reports that San Ramon, California and AT&T were expected to reach an agreement yesterday over AT&T's proposed IPTV service offering.

Unlike other cities where AT&T has failed to reach agreement, San Ramon says it does not require a franchise agreement from AT&T for their proposed IPTV service. The cities of Walnut Creek and Livermore believe differently and contested that AT&T would be required to get a franchise agreement just like cable companies. AT&T says they do not need cable franchise agreements to offer IPTV because they are a regulated telephone company.

Update: San Ramon and AT&T reached an agreement yesterday allowing AT&T to offer their IPTV service. The agreement makes San Ramon the first city in Northern California to sign such a deal.

Entriq, Inc., a company that provides all-in-one pay media solutions to manage, protect, monetize and deliver multimedia content to broadband, mobile and IPTV devices worldwide, announced that it has been selected by SevenOne Intermedia, ProSiebenSat.1-Group's Multimedia Company, to enable its soon to be launched maxdome Video on Demand portal.

Entriq will be providing SevenOne Intermedia with a full end-to-end 10' Media Center Edition (MCE) based digital store enabling customers to access maxdome via PC and TV. The company will also use Entriq's Security Plus component of the end-to-end Digital Store solution to publish, manage, secure, sell and deliver content via the web to 18 million German consumers.

The Broadband Services Forum (BSF), an international industry resource that provides a forum to address the fundamental business and technology issues vital to the growth and health of the broadband industry, today announced that it will participate in TelecomNEXT. The BSF will host a Supersession that will investigate how entertainment and technology companies can work together on new opportunities for Internet protocol television (IPTV) in today's rapidly evolving communications marketplace.

PeerFactor, a French IT company based in Paris, will open non-public beta website of it's system named PeerFactor HD (High speed Downloading) next week. The system will allow webmasters to deliver large files for free or at a very low cost.

PeerFactor HD will be an ideal complement to streaming or podcast for web TV or video blog. The cost reduction could allow high definition video delivery supported by advertisement to become a viable business.

Susan Molinari, former Congresswoman from New York, and Lillian Rodríguez-López, President of the Hispanic Federation, today announced the launch of Broadband Everywhere, a new organization dedicated to promoting the broadest possible deployment of competitive broadband networks. Molinari and Rodriguez-Lopez will serve as Co-Chairs of Broadband Everywhere.

As telecommunications providers begin to launch video services for consumers nationwide, AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) today announced a series of principles designed to ensure the commercial availability of devices that attach to Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled video networks. The companies joined CEA in unveiling the principles at a press conference held during CEA's "Entertainment Technology Policy Summit" running March 15-16 in Washington, D.C.

Ikanos Communications, Inc., a leading developer and provider of Fiber Fast broadband solutions, announced that Belgacom, one of the largest telecommunications providers in Europe, has begun deploying Ikanos-based equipment in order to offer interactive broadband services over VDSL. Utilizing equipment powered by Ikanos' CleverConnect 600 and SmartLeap 8100 products, Belgacom is offering new, high-bandwidth interactive TV services including on-demand TV programs and digital video recording.

Latens Systems announced that Ringgold Telephone Company has selected Latens FCAS CA as the encryption solution for its advanced IPTV services. Ringgold, a pioneer in IPTV in Georgia, now can offer its subscribers secured video services that include Pay-TV, High-Definition (HD), personal-video-recording (PVR), video-on-demand (VOD), and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), through tight integration with TVN, the C-Cor VOD solution and Minerva's iTV Manager.

Alcatel announced that it has signed an agreement with Telenor, Norway's leading telecommunications service provider to supply Alcatel's next generation IP broadband services access platform, supporting Telenor's "All IP" network strategy. The Alcatel solution will enable Telenor to offer its customers high bandwidth triple play services such as IPTV, video on demand, and HDTV and cost-effectively meet their strategic objectives.

Jazztel has launched throughout Spain its interactive IP television, Jazztelia TV, over ADSL 2+ with a promotion price of one euro per month until the 1st of July. Jazztelia TV will be available to every Jazztel broadband customer connected with ADSL 2+ technology with at least 6 Mb of broadband capacity.

Jazztelia TV customers will enjoy for 1 euro a month the best quality channels. This promotional price will be available until the June 30th, 2006.

Urges Committee Leadership to Ensure Universal Broadband Deployment

In a letter today, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis (CA-32), a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, urged Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (TX-06) and Ranking Member John D. Dingell (MI-15) to include enforceable provisions in the Committee's video franchising reform bill to prohibit the deployment of broadband in a discriminatory manner.

Below is the text of the letter.

According to an article in the Charlotte Business Journal, BellSouth has been pushing legislation in the Carolinas that would speed its entry into the television business. The South Carolina House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill granting BellSouth a statewide video franchise last month. BellSouth plans to address statewide franchise legislation in North Carolina when the General Assembly meets in May.

AT&T's proposed purchase of Bellsouth may hasten that IPTV rollout. "AT&T has been making a stronger push in video than BellSouth," says Harry Lightsey, president of BellSouth's South Carolina operations. "I suspect we will be part of that aggressive plan."