Vidshadow and FORA.tv to syndicate content across the Vidshadow network, as well as their online video portal. Content will include video covering today’s most compelling political, social, technological and cultural issues from renowned thought-leading organizations, including The Aspen Institute, C-SPAN, the World Affairs Council, Georgetown University and many more.

FORA.tv reshapes the manner in which relevant political, business, technological and cultural issues can enlighten and entertain audiences around the world. It is the definitive resource to connect with new ideas and important thinkers, and through this experience gain a broader understanding of the world beyond the printed page, television screen or other information sources. Through highly entertaining, unmediated rich video content, from thought leaders such as Madeleine Albright and George Schultz to environmentalists such as Jane Goodall to musicians and authors such as Brian Eno and Christopher Hutchens, the FORA.tv experience comes alive enabled by a suite of powerful tools for understanding, interaction and self-expression.

America’s fascination with online videos keeps getting bigger everyday. But, instead of a viral commercial masked as a video of a girl making an incredible catch at a softball game, or online videos as political campaign tools, VideoJug is using their technology to do good. Today’s announcement of a partnership between VideoJug and Kiva sets a precedent of using online video for philanthropic purposes.

VideoJug is providing Kiva with free video production services to spread word about the world’s first website enabling individuals to lend directly to an entrepreneur in the developing world. These high-quality, “How-To” videos for Kiva.org - including a video of the general Kiva campaign - introduce users to the microfinance movement, explain how Kiva works and challenge viewers to get involved.

The long awaited channel line up for the UK’s first open, consumer, IPTV service, PlayTV UK, is now released. Powered by the Global Digital Broadcast network, PlayTV UK offers free to view channels and a number of packages including Play Entertainment and Family, Play Movies, the international and foreign language channel package, Play World and the largest selection of sports programming through Play Setanta and Play Sports.

PlayTV UK is available on its exclusive set-top box service and through its triple play package which incorporates the set-top box with telephone and broadband services.

Tulsa-area residents now have a new choice for their television and communications services. AT&T launched the company's integrated suite of AT&T U-verse services in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The suite includes AT&T U-verse TV, AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet and AT&T U-verse Voice.

AT&T U-verse brings together your TV, broadband, home phone and AT&T wireless services — all on one bill — with unique features that provide a new level of integration, convenience and control. AT&T U-verse TV, High Speed Internet and Voice services are all delivered over AT&T's advanced Internet Protocol network.

TV Worldwide in cooperation with the National Park Service, will again produce a free live simulcast via satellite and the web of the Washington, D.C., National Capital 4th of July Fireworks Celebration for the benefit of American military personnel and their families stationed overseas. This year the webcast will salute veterans of the U.S. Merchant Marine, with support from "Tell America," an Internet TV Campaign highlighting the importance of the U.S. flag merchant fleet in peace and war.

The free satellite and web broadcast coverage begins at 8:45 PM (ET) on Friday, July 4, and is being produced in cooperation with the National Park Service thanks to sponsorship from Base Technologies, Inc., "Tell America," T3 Motion and the International Webcasting Association.

OVGuide.com identified the top online video destinations for June. With over 80 million pages viewed, OVGuide.com's user base experienced significant growth in the past month:

June:
21 million visits (17% increase compared to May)
11.5 million unique visitors (10.5% increase)
10 million searches conducted (11% increase)

The statistics for June include:

Top five searches:
1. Hancock
2. Kung Fu Panda
3. The Happening
4. Indiana Jones
5. Zohan

Find out more after the jump.

Schematic's video player is anchoring NBC’s online coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on NBCOlympics.com on MSN. The announcement was made by Perkins Miller, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, NBC Sports and Olympics, and Trevor Kaufman, CEO of Schematic. The player debuts this week with live, streaming coverage of the U.S. Olympic trials.

Created using Microsoft Silverlight 2, the video player will deliver 2,200 hours of live, streaming coverage from NBC to millions of Americans with an unprecedented level of picture quality, interactive features and user control. As the largest Web event ever, the player will also allow visitors to NBCOlympics.com on MSN to access over 3,000 hours of on-demand video, including full-event replays, highlights and interviews.

Espial enteres into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Espial will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Kasenna in exchange for an aggregate of 4,722,224 Espial common shares, which before giving effect to the transaction represents 51.2% of the issued and outstanding shares of Espial and will represent approximately 33.6% of the issued and outstanding shares of Espial on an after-issue basis.

RealPage's IPTV service, StarFire, is having an IPTV equipment garage sale to offload some headend, encoding, satellite, and set-top box gear. Below is the entire list of model numbers and quantity.

If you're interested in any of the equipment, please call Patti Pinkerton at 1-972-820-3900 to negotiate prices. Serious inquires only.

BNN has selected Vusion's WARP video delivery technology to power the high quality video on its recently launched online portal, 101.TV. BNN is a Dutch public broadcasting network aimed at teenagers and young adults. Known for its irreverent style and somewhat controversial programming, BNN has built a huge audience throughout the Netherlands by developing and delivering content that is tailored for the unique taste of its demographic. As these younger viewers rapidly shift their attention away from TV sets and onto the Internet, BNN is now poised to support this shift on a massive scale with the addition of Vusion's WARP technology to its 101.TV web video portal.

Efforts to accelerate the deployment of IPTV by combining the expertise of key telecom operators, consumer electronics manufacturers and network infrastructure providers in the Open IPTV Forum are gathering further momentum, and the first release of the specifications that will allow IPTV to develop into a mass market service is close to completion.

At its meeting at the headquarters of Telefónica in Madrid from 10-13 June, the Open IPTV Forum, the pan-industry initiative that was established to produce the end-to-end solution specification which will open up access to the interactive and personalised services offered by IPTV, significantly expanded its membership. These companies join the founding members - Ericsson, FT Group, Nokia Siemens Networks, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony and Telecom Italia - and many other major IPTV industry players from the communications and entertainment industries, bringing to 37 the number of companies which are working together in the Forum.

Verizon FiOS TV has launched 22 new channels, including 15 additional HD channels. FiOS TV customers in Fort Wayne now have more than 440 HD choices available at any time, with a total of 41 HD channels and more than 400 HD VOD titles offered each month.

The first in a series of channel additions coming this year, new content includes sports favorites like the Big Ten Network and new HD channels like CNBC, Bravo and USA. The next series of content additions will include more HD channels, including CNN, TBS, Lifetime, three new Starz channels and two new Showtime channels, as well as 16 new multicultural channels.

Verizon will continue expanding its FiOS TV channel lineup this year, with a major focus on HD content. By year-end, Verizon will offer all available major HD programming.

David Ingram and Intervision TV have produced what is set to become the definitive guide to all aspects of setting up and running an Internet TV station. Dave Ingram, Director of Intervision TV, said 'the issue with Internet TV is, that to run a successful independent, and profitable, TV station you need a mix of skills and knowledge from a wide range of areas, from video production, through to business planning, to internet marketing, and to the technology of video streaming and player design. Most people have knowledge of one or two of these areas, but not of all of them, or indeed how to knit them all together to create an effective viewer proposition.'

The road to converged IPTV gets much smoother as MRG's new IPTV infrastructure and service report provides a new roadmap for IPTV Operators to use in competing with Cable, Satellite and even Internet Video. By categorizing multi-platform services into functional groups including Time-shifting, Place-shifting, Personalization, and Socialization, the report provides numerous examples of what new services may look like on different platforms and regions of the world.

KyLinTV adds another channel to join its line-up of live programming. International Family Television offers a new selection of family friendly programs that are cross cultural and promote family values. IFTV presents a wide variety of categories for children and adults that are educational and entertaining. IFTV broadcasts programs in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese, and Korean which feature ethnic, moral, and educational themes. Programs include dramas, music videos, cooking, cartoons, talk shows, fitness, docudramas and more. There are also several programs that teach the English language.