Skyline Communications announced that ATEME has signed a DataMiner Strategic Partnership agreement. This follows ATEME's decision to include Skyline's flagship DataMiner multi-vendor network management platform throughout its product portfolio as the company's standard network management solution.

DataMiner provides monitoring and remote control of the ATEME products and a wide range of advanced functionality. This includes:

• long-term trending
• professional reporting via e-mail triggered by system events or time schedule
• advanced automation for applications such as N+M redundancy switching
• intelligent alarm correlation
• intuitive bubble-up and drill-down UI's
• comprehensive service and SLA management
• real-time KPI dashboards,

Media Excel & WebTV announced general availability of the Hera 3200f file transcoder appliance tailored for broadcasters, content owners and aggregators VOD systems. The Hera 3200f was designed following customer's dissatisfaction of the performance, scalability, and complex licensing structures of available software file transcoding solutions in the market today. To satisfy these needs, Media Excel developed in-house embedded software and DSP hardware components, resulting in a highly scalable system that provides multi-codec broadcast-level video quality, an order of magnitude performance improvement, simplified pricing structure, plus unmatched flexibility to meet individual customer needs.

SysMaster and Verimatrix have announced a partnership that will dramatically improve content security over public networks. Under the terms of the partnership, SysMaster will integrate its Tornado M10 set top box with the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System, which provides robust, end-to-end security, enabling Tornado M10 to deliver secure video content across any network.

The award-winning Tornado M10 enables providers to launch IPTV and other offerings quickly and cost-efficiently, direct to consumer TV sets over broadband lines. Moving forward, SysMaster will integrate its entire IPTV product line with Verimatrix technology, including the VoiceMaster Content Management and Billing middleware, the iptvSwitch streaming server, and the muSwitch multicast-to-unicast converter. The SysMaster IPTV product line offers end-to-end equipment solutions, enabling customers to provision, manage and bill for lucrative IPTV and Video-on-Demand services.

CartoonNetwork.com hit an all-time high in July, with visitors to the site spending an average of 77 minutes per person according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Site visitors enjoy full length episodes and clips of Cartoon Network shows, plus more than 170 free online games based on popular Cartoon Network characters and shows, including “Ben 10” and “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.” Also, CartoonNetwork.com ranked 26th among all U.S. domains in total time spent in July.

DS2 announced that its powerline chips have been selected for BT Vision to enable the self-installation option of its digital TV services. BT selected UPA powerline products because of their capacity to provide high quality service and full self-installation for BT Vision customers.

The DS2 solution includes a unique reference design for the development of powerline products that incorporates a female socket that saves the customer's power outlet for use with other devices. It provides a simple one-touch set-up for HDTV-speed home networks in seconds as well as an environmentally friendly standby mode for energy saving when not in use.

Limelight has entered into a major new technology and services agreement with Microsoft under which Limelight will help improve the performance, scalability, and reliability of Internet delivery of media content and online services, including video, music, games, software, and social media, across Microsoft’s global Internet properties. Under the agreement, Microsoft and Limelight will cross-license certain technologies, consider joint development projects in the future, and cooperate on extending and improving their respective technology infrastructures. Microsoft and Limelight have also entered into a multi-year relationship under which Limelight Networks will continue to provide global media streaming and content delivery services to Microsoft.

In response to the rapid advancements being made in technology for communications and content creation, management and delivery, organizers of the IP Media Expo, SATCON and HD World conferences have combined the events to bring buyers of these technologies a diverse and extensive conference experience. This convergence of specialties will provide industry professionals with an elite offering of speakers, sessions, exhibits and trend updates. The conferences, to be held October 10-11, 2007 at the Jacob K Javits Convention Center in New York, will provide registrants signed up for one of the events with universal access to each of the show’s exhibits and seminars. Register once to attend all three events. See below for details!

Movavi added new tools to Movavi Online, a web-based service that enables users to download and convert video from one format to another -- for sharing, podcasting, cellphones, iPods, and more -- for free. Where the first version of Movavi Online gave users the ability to upload video stored on a PC, the service upgrade now also enables users to download video from YouTube, Google, MySpace, MetaCafe and other video-sharing sites. Also, users are now able to download and watch Flash videos, convert video from the Internet to AVI, MP4, MPG, 3GP and other formats for use with iPod, iPhone, PSP, cellphone and other devices, and merge several videos into one large movie.

The cost of deploying new IPTV services can be reduced by as much as 33% if operators select open, scalable and more flexible middleware, according to a new white paper released by Espial. With middleware like Espial's Evo IPTV Service Platform, operators can save upwards of $195 million when deploying new IPTV services, based on a five-year deployment scenario to one million subscribers.

Adobe announces the latest update for Adobe Flash Player 9 software, code-named Moviestar, which includes H.264 standard video support - the same standard deployed in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD high definition video players - and High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio support, as well as hardware accelerated, multi-core enhanced full screen video playback. These advancements will extend Adobe’s leadership position in Web video by enabling the delivery of HD television quality and premium audio content through the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player and pave the way to expand rich media Flash experiences on the desktop and H.264 ready consumer devices. The latest update for Adobe Flash Player 9 will be available in beta for immediate download later today on Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com.

Narrowstep is pleased to announce the launch of an all new Internet TV channel dedicated to the world of mountain biking. This new channel, which is now available at www.mtbcut.tv, will bring together film makers from around the world to deliver some of the best mountain bike footage ever caught on tape.

Historically, mountain biking enthusiasts would have to wait up to a year after an event took place to buy the DVD. Now using Narrowstep’s cutting-edge, Internet TV platform telvOS, MTBcut viewers can watch live coverage of popular events as well as Video-On-Demand with the click of a button in TV-like quality.

Poor cable service quality, coupled with a lack of customer support, combine to create real customer dissatisfaction. These are the kinds of annoyances that inevitably steer subscribers toward other service providers. And at present, this is translating into a major growth opportunity for telecom video services, according to a recent study from ABI Research on the IP set-top box market.

Verizon and AT&T are beginning to expand their homes passed as well, building out their network upgrades while continuing to work with satellite partners. Interactive services could be a significant differentiator that will help them acquire subscribers in the battle against cable operators. “The interactive nature of the offerings that derive from telcos is proving to be a strategic advantage as we move toward IPTV offerings,” Schatt added. “Interactive advertising may not be a force right now, but down the road it will be a way for operators to target specific homes with specific ads, and to let people respond to the ads. Once again, this requires two-way communication.”

Just weeks after Blockbuster embraces Blu-ray DVDs, Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks announce they are going exclusively with the HD DVD format.

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation each announced that they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment.

Verizon announces that its ultra-fast FiOS Internet service is now available to customers in parts of Brooklyn's Canarsie, Mill Basin, Georgetown and Bergen Beach communities. The service is also available in several buildings in Williamsburg and downtown Brooklyn. FiOS Internet is already available in many other New York communities, including the other New York City boroughs and throughout the state. Additional parts of Brooklyn and other New York neighborhoods will become eligible for the service as Verizon continues to deploy its new fiber-optic network.

AT&T has announced the launch of AT&T U-verse in parts of local communities, including the city of Sacramento, Sacramento County, Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Folsom, Gold River, Lincoln, Modesto, Rancho Cordova, Rocklin and Stockton. AT&T U-verse uses 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" and one of the most robust and feature-rich services available today.

AT&T U-verse offers customers a combination of next-generation digital television — including access to more than 26 High Definition channels — and high speed Internet access. The award-winning AT&T U-verse TV includes cutting-edge features that are unmatched in the market, and the new U-verse enabled AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet builds on AT&T's position as the nation's leading provider of broadband DSL.