Cable and IPTV network operators can offer customers an unprecedented navigation experience on television that includes simultaneous live views of multiple channels and Web-like personalization with the live deployment of the revolutionary P:Mosaic from ICTV.

P:Mosaic breaks new ground in viewer navigation by creating a dynamic environment that combines full viewer engagement with the high quality and immediate responsiveness of television. By deploying P:Mosaic, network operators can for the first time enable subscribers to build personalized menus from the hundreds of available channels according to individual preferences, manage preferences from Web-connected devices, view and preview television channels simultaneously and interact with targeted, auditable and actionable advertising.

The WSJ is reporting that AT&T will up the amount it will spend on rolling out its IPTV U-verse service as much as $1.4 billion.

"This additional investment will further strengthen our service, which already has numerous advantages over cable," an AT&T spokesman said. "We're very happy with the progress we're seeing with U-verse."

The cost increase is blamed on the expense of adding more servers. These servers are needed as the company significantly increases the amount of HD channels it plans to offer its customers. AT&T is also paying top dollar to its hardware suppliers to ensure gear is on hand when required.

Broadband TV vendor Akimbo announced that it'll no longer use it's set-top boxes to deliver broadband content to customers. Instead Akimbo will focus on selling content services.

What about customers who already have Akimbo's set-top boxes? Akimbo is offering three months of free service, refunds on recent purchases, and credit toward other services.

The Football Association Premier League Limited, the premier league of English soccer, and independent music publisher Bourne Co. have filed a class action lawsuit in federal court in New York to stop the unauthorized and uncompensated use of their creative and other copyrighted works and those of all other similarly situated copyright holders on the YouTube website. The lawsuit names YouTube, Inc., YouTube LLC, as well as Google, Inc. as defendants.

The Premier League is the top division of English soccer that is broadcast in 204 countries worldwide and viewed by audiences estimated at 2.59 billion people. Bourne is one of the leading independent publishers of music in the United States.

According to the complaint filed earlier today: "Defendants are pursuing a deliberate strategy of engaging in, permitting, encouraging, and facilitating massive copyright infringement on the YouTube website" in order to build traffic to the site. The complaint alleges that the YouTube defendants have long been aware of this pattern of massive infringement yet purposefully refrain from employing readily available measures to curb it because the defendants understand that the popularity of YouTube.com (and its value as a platform for other uses) derive primarily from the ability of website visitors to access, view, and otherwise exploit copyrighted materials without having to pay the owners of those materials.

CZ has a very interesting read over at Verizon's PolicyBlog about the return of the infamous rabbit ears. Could this be true? According to Richard Schneider, president of Antennas Direct, people are once again hunting for those antennas as they tune in to over-the-air HDTV.

"Eighty-year-old technology is being redesigned and rejiggered to deliver the best picture quality," said Schneider. "People thought I was nuts. They were laughing at me when I told them I was starting an antenna company."

If you don't have any rabbit ears lying around and don't wish to spend the $20-150 on a new set, you can try your Boy Scout skills like Steve Mezick of Portland, Ore., who created one out of cardboard and tinfoil.

"I decided to build it because the design looked exceedingly simple. I scrounged up stuff around the house and put one together," said Mezick, a bowling alley mechanic who repairs pin spotters.

Mezick has since upgraded his original design using a wire baking sheet, clothes hanger and wood. He mounted it to the side of his house and gets all of his local stations. "It works brilliantly," he said.

Who knew? Clearly, Mr. Mezick doesn't have a very strict homeowners association.

For more on this, check out CZ's article and this story by the AP.

A new, independent study by Motorola reveals that almost half of Europe is already watching TV on the internet. No longer wanting to be bound by broadcasters' linear scheduling, users are taking control of their viewing, watching programmes how, when and where they want.

The European study, which surveyed attitudes and behaviours of 2500 broadband users in UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, highlights that a surprising 45 per cent of European viewers are already watching TV online. French television addicts are the most demanding, with 59 per cent choosing to watch previews and episodes of their favourite shows via the web. Italians and Brits come in second and third respectively, whilst German viewers remain most bound to schedules set by TV broadcasters with only 33 per cent catching shows online.

TANDBERG Television unveils its next generation solution for switched digital video. The TANDBERG OpenStream Switched Digital Video Solution leapfrogs existing SDV technology providing a massively scalable fully redundant system with seamless failover to ensure the delivery of critical video channels. The OpenStream SDV solution allows cable operators to easily provide, control and manage switched multi-rate (2-20Mbs) digital television video services through an open platform, allowing operators to significantly reduce integration issues and deployment costs. The TANDBERG OpenStream SDV Solution will have its public debut at NCTA’s The Cable Show ’07 (Las Vegas – 7-9th May – booth # 452).

Leveraging the success of the TANDBERG OpenStream Digital Services Platform which serves more than 15 million digital VOD subscribers, the OpenStream SDV Solution allows operators to deploy new services with existing network resources, significantly reducing the cost of providing consumers with a broad choice of desirable programming in multiple formats. Cable operators can mix MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC set-top boxes in the same network using TANDBERG Television switched technology.

Churchill Downs Incorporated announces that its new advance deposit wagering service, TwinSpires, will launch on Wednesday, May 2, at 9 a.m. EDT, to accept wagers on the 2007 Spring Meet at Churchill Downs racetrack, and the 133rd renewals of the Grade I Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands on May 5 and the Kentucky Oaks on May 4.

Beginning May 2 at 9 a.m. EDT, customer can register for the new account-wagering service by visiting the TwinSpires Web site and clicking on the “Register Now” button on the home page. Registration is subject to applicable rules and restrictions. The TwinSpires Web site will activate at 9 a.m. EDT on May 2. Player Services Representatives will be available to assist customers beginning at 9 a.m. EDT / 6 a.m. EDT on May 2. Customers may contact the TwinSpires Player Services Center at 1-877-SPIRES-1 for assistance.

Scientific Atlanta announces T-HT Croatia has selected its Model IPP330HD IP set-tops for the rollout of T-HT Croatia's IPTV service. T-HT Croatia is deploying these next-generation set-tops to deliver advanced services, including high-definition television to help expand its subscriber base and provide greater differentiation for its service portfolio and even greater value for its customers.

Scientific Atlanta's IP set-tops integrate MPEG-4/H.264 and MPEG-2 compression capabilities, as well as support for high definition and other advanced services. This provides a flexible, powerful IP set-top platform that is ready to support today's services as well as those that will emerge in the future. T-HT's IPTV services delivery network incorporates Cisco 12000 Series Routers and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches.

According to a major new study from Strategy Analytics, the video and music industries are unlikely to follow Apple and EMI's recent decision to abandon Digital Rights Management (DRM). The report, "A Roadmap for DRM: Business Impact for Content Owners and Technology Vendors," from the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service, draws on extensive interviews with senior executives in the media, entertainment and consumer electronics industries, and concludes that DRM will still play a critical role in the emergence of the digital marketplace. But to remain valid, DRM will have to sink into the background of the value chain, enabling new choices for consumers, while also opening up new revenue streams for creators and content owners.

AT&T announces the launch of AT&T U-verse', which utilizes AT&T's new fiber-rich network to offer cutting-edge television and high speed Internet services. AT&T is the only national provider to offer a 100 percent Internet Protocol based television service, making U-verse TV "cooler than cable" as one of the most robust and feature-rich services available today.

AT&T U-verse services initially available in California are:

• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area, including Altadena, Anaheim, Burbank, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Glendale, Laguna Niguel, Orange County, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, and Tustin.
• Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan statistical area, including the city of Riverside, County of Riverside, Corona and Norco.
• Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura metropolitan statistical area, including Simi Valley.
• AT&T will continue to increase availability throughout the area on an ongoing basis.

Information Gatekeepers Inc. (IGI), in cooperation with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, will organize the ChinaTel Forum on May 24, 2007 at the offices of Paul Hastings in Washington, DC. The forum is part of a two-day event on emerging telecom markets. Early bird registration pricing ends May 1; so reserve your seat at the event today!

Information Gatekeepers Inc. (IGI), in cooperation with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, will organize the IndiaTel Forum on May 25, 2007 at the offices of Paul Hastings in Washington, DC. The forum is part of a two-day event on emerging telecom markets. Early bird registration pricing ends May 1; so reserve your seat at the event today!

CopperGate Communications announces that Sonaecom has selected CopperGate’s CopperStream technology for Sonaecom’s fast growing Clix SmarTV IPTV service.

CopperGate’s CopperStream chipsets, available from leading manufacturers embedded in set-top boxes, residential gateways and other equipment, provide a complete HomePNA 3 home networking solution. Products integrating CopperStream are being deployed today by major telephone service providers worldwide for IPTV applications as well as for Multi-tenant Unit in-building access applications.

This week at MIX07, Web designers, Web developers, industry decision-makers and marketing professionals gathered as Microsoft Corp.’s Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Scott Guthrie, general manager of the Developer Division, presented the full breadth of Microsoft’s vision and road map for Microsoft Silverlight and how it fits into the company’s broader Microsoft .NET platform and tools effort.

A core component of Microsoft’s overall strategy for the Web, Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET-based media experiences and rich interactive applications. In addition to making the beta of Silverlight available for download, Microsoft announced unprecedented support for dynamic languages including Python and Ruby, powerful services integration and new tooling in the Expression Studio and the next edition of Visual Studio, code-named “Orcas,” for building Silverlight applications.