SyncTV's private beta launch of its TV download service, which will provide home-theater quality TV shows on an unlimited download basis. Completely based on open-standards, the SyncTV service works on Windows PCs, Macs and Linux PCs, and in the future it will also work on TVs and portable players.

SyncTV's program library is organized by channels, some of which, like Showtime, will already be familiar to viewers. Once subscribed to a particular channel, viewers can download any show made available on that channel, which in many cases will include every episode of every season of a particular show. There is a small monthly fee for each subscribed channel, though a minority of channels will make their content available on a pay-per-download basis, rather t

Yahoo has signed an agreement with Sony BMG to extend its video-on-demand license. In addition to expanding the existing relationship into additional territories around the world, the new worldwide deal adds a broad array of additional Sony BMG music videos to the Yahoo! Music catalog. As part of the agreement, Sony BMG music videos will be available for distribution across Yahoo! and off-network through a Yahoo-branded video player. The deal also enables Yahoo! users to utilize various Sony BMG audio recordings in user generated audiovisual content.

Verizon continues changing the definition of "fast" for Maryland, Virginina, Pennsylvania and Florida broadband users by introducing a new, symmetrical Verizon FiOS Internet service for consumers, featuring upstream and downstream connection speeds of up to 15 megabits per second. The company also has introduced a new, fastest-speed FiOS Internet service that offers a downstream connection speed of up to 30 Mbps and a new upstream connection speed of up to 15 Mbps.

These new offerings - delivered straight to customers' homes on the nation's most-advanced, all-digital, all-fiber-optic network - are the first of their kind commercially available to consumers on a mass scale.

Verizon has successfully concluded the industry's first field test of 100 gigabits per second optical transmission, on a live, in-service 312-mile network route between Tampa, Fla., and Miami. The test, which utilized a live video feed from Verizon's national FiOS TV network as the "payload," was successfully completed Friday (Nov. 16). The 100 Gbps transmission was conducted on a Verizon Business ultra long-haul optical system carrying other live traffic at 10 Gbps. The test demonstrated that by deploying advanced electronics, an existing network system can easily and quickly be upgraded to 100 Gbps.

Streaming21 and Cool.revo will showcase their end-to-end IPTV, VoD and HDTV solutions at Inter BEE 2007 in Tokyo, Japan, November 20-22. Visitors will experience exciting live demos of fully-integrated IPTV solutions with amazing high-definition video quality and theater-like display.

Streaming21 and Cool.revo have worked closely to develop and market end-to-end IPTV solutions, including Streaming server, Set-top Box, DRM, Middleware, and networking. The companies have secured Tier 1 Telcos and broadband service providers in Japan, such as IPTV and VoD services for NTT group companies.

AT&T's U-verse TV is now available to more than 170,000 living units in the San Antonio area, and the expansion comes just in time for fans who want access to football 24/7, including the Dallas Cowboys — Green Bay Packers game, which will be telecast exclusively on NFL Network on Thursday, Nov. 29.

Beginning Thanksgiving Day and continuing through the end of the year, NFL Network exclusively televises the Run to the Playoffs package, a series of Thursday and Saturday night NFL games, including the Cowboys — Packers game Thursday, Nov. 29, and the Dallas Cowboys — Carolina Panthers game Saturday, Dec. 22, both airing at 7:15 p.m. CST. Some San Antonio football fans will not have access to these high-profile games through their local cable provider. AT&T U-verse offers NFL Network in its most popular programming tiers — U200 and above — which start as low as $59 a month. NFL Network HD is also available on U-verse TV with HD service for an additional $10 a month.

AOL introduces video ticker ads as a graphic banner ad that is integrated within a streaming video, but without obstructing the video viewing experience. When clicked on by a consumer, the ticker expands to launch a video ad, or an interactive Flash ad, within the video player window. These ads will run across the AOL Network of premium video content within the newest version of the AOL Video media player platform.

According to a recent survey by TNS Research, 78% of respondents agreed that online video ads provide as good as -- if not more -- of an opportunity to learn about an advertiser than TV. And 64% said that they have taken some action after seeing an online video ad. In addition, 41% of those surveyed stated that after they see a brand featured in an online video ad, they are more likely to think of that brand as having a strong presence on the Internet.

AT&T Bay Area customers now have access to a suite of new U-verse TV features that further differentiate the service from cable. The new interactive features — available to customers at no extra charge — include:

• AT&T U-bar, which brings customizable weather, stock, sports, and traffic information to the TV screen. Customers who also subscribe to AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet have the option to personalize the U-bar from their AT&T Yahoo! home page to display weather at a specified location, their personal stock portfolio, and scores for their favorite sports teams.
• YELLOWPAGES.COM TV, an intuitive new way to search for local businesses and other information via U-verse TV.
• AT&T Yahoo! Games, available over the television screen, including Sudoku, Solitaire, JT's Blocks, Mah-jongg Tiles, and Chess.

Music fans around the world watched live on the Web as Avril Lavigne accepted top honors at the 14th annual MTV Europe Music Awards, streamed online with the Niagara Pro from ViewCast Corporation. Designed For high-quality, high-resolution video capture and streaming, the Niagara Pro enabled MTV Europe to offer exclusive Web broadcasts featuring award presentations and dazzling performances from A-list stars including Lavigne, the Foo Fighters, Babyshambles, Mika, Nicole Scherzinger, will.i.am, and My Chemical Romance.

WorldTV makes its worldwide debut empowering users to create, manage and operate their own personalized television station on the Web for free. With WorldTV, anyone can easily create their own full-screen, high-def capable, branded video channels and populate them with video clips from the Internet’s top user-generated and video-sharing sites from around the globe.

WorldTV turns users into professional television programmers, providing them with easy-to-use media tools to instantly package their favorite clips into a personalized and branded video channel. The simple and intuitive Flash-based interface enables anyone to program a channel lineup by just dragging and dropping content from across their favorite sites. They can either create themed channels on specific subjects, or simply compile their favorite video clips and have them all archived in one convenient secure location. WorldTV will be open to the first 10,000 “programmers” to sign up. Additional users will be added at regularly planned intervals.

Entone's award-winning Hydra IP video gateway is deployed with Minerva's iTVManager middleware platform. This fully integrated solution offers service operators a more efficient and cost-effective IPTV solution that can be quickly and easily deployed to enable advanced IPTV services, such as MPEG-4 (H.264/AVC), digital video recorder, pay-per-view and video on demand.

Entone's Hydra IP video gateway enables service operators to distribute video signals throughout the home without the costs or installation complexities of putting a set-top box in every room or rewiring the home. Hydra dramatically improves the business case for IPTV services by reducing the CAPEX and OPEX associated with IP video deployment.

Mogulus enables anyone with a computer, a web-cam and a high speed connection to broadcast like a multi-million dollar television station. Mogulus, in private beta for the past four months, is one of the most popular live streaming applications in Internet history. More than 17,000 producers with beta access created more than 18,000 live 24/7 channels and streamed more than 12 million unique viewer minutes a month, according to Haot.

Mogulus enables producers to:

• Run scheduled 24/7 broadcasting playlists, where everyone watching sees the same content and can chat about it, while the "channel owner" has full control -- they can interrupt and go live at any time
• Incorporate broadcast graphics (ticker, bug, bumpers, ...) into your channel, just like the major television networks
• Collaborate in real time with multiple producers, and control the same channel at the same time from anywhere in the world with your team.
• Mix between multiple live cameras located anywhere in the world and upload or import videos from the web with a simple drag and drop action.

Green living enthusiasts can learn about eco-friendly building practices and sustainable living alternatives from the convenience of their laptop, video iPod or iPhone, thanks to a new digital TV show, Mainstream Green, from ON Networks. The video-on-demand series is designed to be an online green resource for consumers buying or building a home, as well as existing home owners looking to “go green.”

Hosted by high-performance home builder Alex Pettitt, Mainstream Green engages and informs viewers on all things environmentally friendly – from the nitty-gritty of insulation to the big picture of master-planned communities. By educating viewers on such eco-friendly building alternatives, Mainstream Green hopes to arm them with money-saving, healthier options that are also designed to make the world a little greener.

Like ESPN GamePlan, the online version of ESPN Full Court has been rolled into ESPN360 for U.S. viewers. Users with an ESPN360 affiliated broadband provider can watch FullCourt games for free live online. ESPN Full Court International will be launched in January. It will be available to international fans only using the same player that ESPN uses for GamePlan international. Prices are not yet known.

If you haven't had a chance to check out ESPN360 or don't have an affiliated broadband provider, we took some screenshots of the experience and all we can say is wow. We have a 6 Mbps downstream connection through Charter Communications and the experience was flawless.



We were able to have several games streaming at once until we started using multiple computers to watch ESPN360.

Motionbox launches a new premium service that delivers a complete, secure solution for uploading, storing and sharing precious video memories. Motionbox has also introduced TV-quality iPod downloads and new video flipbooks for sale, called Motionbooks, to coincide with the premium service launch.

Motionbox‘s free service, launched in 2006, took the first step in changing the way average consumers stored, shared and consumed their personal video by combining the power of cutting edge online video tools with a simple and easy to use web interface. Instead of continuing to keep their personal videos trapped on their camcorders, digital cameras and mobile phones, Motionbox made it possible to move that video onto the web quickly and easily, to create mini-home movies without any complicated editing software and to share those videos with family and friends.