pulvermedia today announced that it is partnering with Telephony Magazine to host an IPTV pre-conference workshop as part of Fall 2006 VON, scheduled for Monday Sept. 11, 2006 at the Boston Convention & Exposition Center.

Focusing on IPTV Deployments, Content and Carrier Strategies, Telephony’s full-day event will feature the award-winning Telephony editorial team, and it will provide additional keynote speakers and panelists with real-world IPTV experience. The conference will highlight successful IPTV strategies, and it will dissect the network architecture, content plays, and deployment tactics that service providers seek to make IPTV part of their overall service strategies.

Residents of the Montgomery County townships of Montgomery and Hatfield are a major step closer to having a real choice for their cable television services, thanks to recently approved agreements authorizing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV in those communities.

Malibu residents are a major step closer to having more choice for their cable television services, thanks to a City Council vote July 24 in favor of allowing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV in the community. The council is expected to take up the issue again for a final vote at its Aug. 14 meeting.

With the unanimous vote of the Board of Selectmen Monday night (July 24), Ipswich became the 12th community in Massachusetts to grant a video TV franchise to Verizon.

"Reaching a dozen communities in Massachusetts with FiOS TV in less than a year is a significant milestone for us," said Donna Cupelo, Verizon region president for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. "It means that we will be able to reach nearly 90,000 households with the most advanced TV network in the country. Consumers are demanding choice in their cable TV providers, and Verizon is giving it to them."

Banning residents are a major step closer to having more choice for their cable television services, thanks to a City Council vote July 25 in favor of allowing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV in the community.

Inspired--or alarmed--by the rate at which telecom operators in many global markets are deploying fiber-to-the-home networks, an increasing number of cable operators are doing the same, according to a recent study from ABI Research. Selected operators in specific markets are starting to build fiber extensions to their core networks, allowing them to offer more interactive services and get around the limits of coaxial networks.

Verismo Networks and Good News Holdings have joined forces on THE CLOUD, an internet protocol television platform. THE CLOUD will reach subscribers having access to broadband connections anywhere in the world with a robust selection of online programming.

Harmonic Inc. extended its family of market-leading digital video compression solutions with the new DiviCom® Electra™ 7000 high definition (HD) MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoder. The world's first multi-channel, multi-service HD H.264 encoder, the Electra 7000 supports up to four full resolution HD channels and can simultaneously create low resolution services for picture-in-picture (PiP) or multi-channel mosaic applications. An ideal solution for satellite, telco/IPTV and cable operators, the Electra 7000 sets a radically improved benchmark for HD H.264 compression performance and video quality. Customers have confirmed bit-rates 20 to 30 percent lower than any currently deployed HD H.264 encoder, and the system has already been selected by five satellite and telco operators in North America and Europe to power their forthcoming HD services.

Telchemy, Incorporated, the global leader in Voice and Video over IP fault and performance management technology, today announced the United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the Company two additional patents for their VoIP and IPTV performance monitoring and analysis technology. These patents strengthen Telchemy’s technology leadership position in the VoIP and IPTV performance management space.

Universal Pictures UK, NBC Universal International Television Distribution and BT have announced a ground-breaking development for the entertainment industry with simultaneous digital distribution agreements bringing a wide range of NBC Universal content for purchase (via download-to-own) or rental (via video-on-demand) in the UK.

Globecomm Systems has been awarded a five-year agreement with a major media production and distribution company in the United States valued at $22 million.

The agreement includes options, which if exercised brings the total contract value to $32 million.

Foundry Networks Inc., a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced that three carriers in Quebec, Canada -- Maskatel, Telephone Drummond and Telephone Guevremont -- have chosen Foundry Networks' NetIron MLX Series of metro routers for the delivery of triple-play services.

GameZnFlix and London International Television Ltd today announced an investment by GameZnFlix in LITV for the purpose of creating the "The Business Channel" to be broadcast on digital satellite later in 2006. GameZnFlix intends to purchase a 25% interest in LITV with the payment of $2,000,000 over the next year. In addition, GameZnFlix may invest up to an additional $10,000,000 to $25,000,000 within 12 months.

Alcatel announced that Belgacom, the incumbent operator in Belgium, has selected Alcatel's IP solution for traffic aggregation to support the mass roll-out of triple play services throughout the country.

Under the terms of this contract, Alcatel will provide the equipment and network & service management for a nationwide network that will deliver high quality voice, data and video services to the Belgian residential customers.

Yesterday, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., held a hearing to determine whether further legal proceedings were necessary in the ongoing review of the Department of Justice (DoJ) approval of the mergers of SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI. Ruling from the bench, the Court determined that because the DoJ has only submitted "unverified legal pleadings," additional record development is necessary. The timetable for submission of these additional evidentiary materials extends through August 27, although the Court noted that extensions to that timetable may be granted.