Verizon introduces FiOS TV's interactive media guide to the company's growing number of TV customers in New York. The new guide helps customers quickly and easily find and enjoy content from TV listings, video-on-demand catalogs and digital video recorders as well as personal music and photos from the home network.

The guide will now be a standard feature for FiOS TV customers wherever the service is offered. Future versions of the guide will add Internet radio, videos, podcasts and games to the FiOS TV multimedia platform. There is no additional charge for the guide.

AT&T announces that Columbus 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 AT&T U-verse TV.
• AT&T Yahoo! Games, available on the television screen, including Sudoku, Solitaire, JT's Blocks, Mah-jongg Tiles and Chess.

The heat got turned up on cable and satellite companies this week at CES in Las Vegas. A focus of large technology makers was to make it easier to send Internet content to TVs. Sony showcased it's new line up of Bravia TVs, while Sandisk unveiled its Take TV product for sending videos stored on computers directly to most televisions.

You can read more at "Cable-TV Industry Girds for New Threats"

Harmonic announces that its Rhozet Carbon Coder video transcoding solution has been selected by Pharos for integration with the Mediator v3 media management system. The Pharos Mediator and Rhozet Carbon Coder solution is deployed at international broadcaster Viasat, part of the Modern Times Group of companies. Providing optimized workflow management solutions to broadcasters and television, radio, IPTV and telecommunications service providers, Pharos selected Carbon Coder to improve the digital workflow by integrating previously disparate broadcast and IT technology systems.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of “IPTV Test, Measurement & Monitoring” to their offering. Because high content quality and bandwidth management are so important to IPTV Service Providers intent on capturing and keeping subscribers, the Test, Measurement and Monitoring market is becoming a major focus of attention and innovation.

As a follow-up to the IPTV Video Quality report published by MRG earlier in 2007, this report provides an in-depth analysis of the emerging IPTV TM&M category of technologies and products.

China International Television Corporation and KyLinTV have agreed to provide global distribution of the Great Wall TV Package on KyLinTV's IPTV platform. KyLinTV consolidates Great Wall content from Europe, Asia and America to provide the most comprehensive and in-depth channel collection to its viewers. Starting in February, KyLinTV will offer the Great Wall Package in North America. This is the most expansive Great Wall Package comprised of 20 channels including: CCTV-4 and CCTV-9 which are major domestic and international news channels, Chinese Movie Channel, CCTV-Opera, CCTV-Entertainment and various provincial channels that keep Chinese living in North America connected to their hometown.

Panasonic introduces its flagship PZ850 series, previewed the industry’s first IP enabled television. Building upon the market and critical success of Panasonic’s previous Plasma models, the 2008 PZ850 series includes a number of step-up features that will further strengthen Panasonic’s leadership position.

Panasonic’s VIERA full HD 1080p PZ850 series features four models - the 46-inch class TH-46PZ850, the 50-inch class TH-50PZ850, the 58-inch class TH-58PZ850 and the 65-inch class TH-65PZ850. The introduction of the IP enabled televisions, a technology that provides access to on-line content directly from the televison with VIERA CAST technology, is one of many advances found in the PZ850 line. In addition, the PZ850 series features a Pro Setting Menu, allowing the consumer to access professional calibration software; an improved native resolution contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and a dynamic ratio of 1,000,000:1; Digital Cinema Color Re-Mastering; 24p native reproduction; Game Mode; an SD memory Card slot; RS-232C connection; four HDMI connections; increased luminous efficiency; lead free panels; 100,000 hours to half brightness and a PC input. The 850 series further expands the capabilities of the SD Card feature by utilizing the H.264 codec to display high definition video recorded on a HD camcorder equipped with the H.264 codec.

Consumers looking for Internet, television, and telephone service should consider Verizon FiOS. In Consumer Reports' latest survey of several major telecom providers, featured in the February issue, Verizon FiOS, whose network is fiber-optic based, received superior scores for reliability and performance for its Internet, television, and telephone services.

Because the availability of Verizon FiOS is as yet limited, many consumers should also consider other options for these services. The article also includes Ratings of services typically bundled from various providers based on reader scores.

Consumers interested in services provided by a cable company may not have an option when choosing a provider because a majority of homes only have one cable company available in their area. According to CR's survey, better cable companies include Cox, Bright House and Wow, which are fine alternatives to Verizon FiOS in areas that they are available and also offer Internet and telephone services.

Recent research conducted by Ipsos Media among U.S. online adults hints that future growth in online video services may be predicated more on downloading models than on streaming models - and potentially more on free ad-based content than on paid content - particularly as younger consumers spend an increasing amount of their disposable time online. As part of a wider survey of online adults on technology and media trends, consumers were asked to rate their overall preference for a variety of online video service models if they were going to use them to view their "favorite TV shows." The service models tested included streaming-only and downloading-only versions of both fee-based video services and free, ad-subsidized versions. Two very interesting stories emerged. First, the results clearly illustrate the consumer appetite for free, ad-subsidized online video services, in this case specifically for television programming. In addition, the data also articulates a division in preference among younger and older consumers in general: younger consumers - those ages 18 to 34 - prefer downloading longer form television programming online, while consumers 35 and older have a greater affinity for streaming television programming content.

During Sunday’s keynote address at the 2008 International CES, Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft Corp., announced that premier consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will include Extender for Windows Media Center technology in its Home Digital Media Adapter arriving this year for compatible Samsung HDTVs. In addition, HP is launching a new Extender device for Windows Media Center, the HP MediaSmart Receiver x280N, designed to work with any high-definition television.

Extenders for Windows Media Center allow viewers to enjoy digital entertainment, including live and recorded HDTV, Internet TV, music, movies and photos, from their PC running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate on any TV in the house through wired or wireless home networks

Widevine has integrated with Move Networks to deliver a complete and secure end-to-end solution for monetizing online video delivery and enables major media companies to secure Internet TV, copyrights, ad-based revenue and geo-political boundaries.

Widevine and Move Networks have successfully deployed their solution with Warner Bros offering secure, full episodes of CBS' "Two and a Half Men," one of the top-rated comedies on broadcast television. Warner Bros has made past episodes of the hit show available to over 150 CW local affiliate web sites nationwide using the Widevine/Move solution to securely deliver online TV distribution of full episodes.

MTV Networks unveils its targeted online syndication strategy, announcing partnerships with select, first-class online video sites to deliver a vast library of short and long-form video content from MTVN's popular music, kids and family, comedy and pop-culture brands. These sites include Dailymotion, GoFish, imeem, MeeVee and Veoh, and join AOL, Bebo, Comcast's Fancast, Joost and MSN to comprise MTVN's portfolio of online syndication partners.

MTVN's targeted online syndication strategy will enable the company to build dynamic relationships with its partners across the globe and work closely with them to enhance their content offerings. The company will collaborate with each site to engage users, co-market and optimize MTVN's programming line-up, and use filtering technologies to ensure copyright protection. All of MTVN's partner sites will carry individual channels for each participating MTVN brand, streaming ad-supported video clips free to the consumer. Like MTVN's own branded websites, the partner sites will enable global audiences to embed MTVN clips on their own blogs, social networking pages or websites.

Hargray Communications has deployed the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System for IPTV solution to secure broadcast and VoD content on its Broadband TV service. Hargray delivers wired and wireless telephone, high-speed Internet and cable and IP television services to 100,000 customers in Hilton Head Island and the surrounding areas of South Carolina and Georgia.

Hargray is a telecom independent operating company that provides voice, video, data, wireless, high-speed Internet, and directory publishing services. As the 22nd largest IOC in the United States, Hargray has been one of the leaders in IP services deployment with incredibly deep experience in the delivery of video to its subscriber base.

Microsoft and BT announced they are bringing together the next-generation TV service BT Vision with Microsoft's Xbox 360 games and entertainment system. All BT broadband customers will have the unique opportunity to receive the best in high-definition gaming, television and movies through an Xbox 360 console, in a powerful, all-in-one entertainment experience. BT Vision, which is powered by the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV platform, plans to make this first-of-its-kind device and service offering available to customers in the middle of 2008. The announcement was made during the keynote address by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Microsoft President Robbie Bach of the Entertainment & Devices Division at 2008 International CES.

At noon today at the CES Show, media executives from 111 Pictures, NBC Universal, CinemaNow, ON Networks and more will participate in a panel discussion exploring the opportunities that new distribution channels can present to media and entertainment companies. The session, titled “Movies, TV & Video Programming to the Consumer – All Video All the Time: Broadband, IPTV, DVD & Mobile,” will explore how IP delivery will significantly expand viewing options and reshape the landscape of the film industry.

Session:

Movies, TV & Video Programming to the Consumer – All Video All the Time: Broadband, IPTV, DVD & Mobile