Tilgin has won a breakthrough order of its IPTV-technology from an incumbent South European telecom operator. The operator will use Tilgin’s HD IPTV technology and management solutions for its major commercial roll-out of IPTV in Southern Europe.

USTelematics announced an engineering breakthrough that will enable the Company’s Voyager Mobile IPTV product to display live TV on the pre-existing DVD and VCP video screens in place on approximately 40 million vehicles on the road presently in North America.

“We have always been aware the consumers generally would prefer to add live digital TV to the DVD systems already installed in their vehicles,” said Howard Leventhal, USTelematics CEO. “We now have a satisfactory technical solution to this need and our current plan is to make it available in the third generation version of Voyager, presently slated for introduction in January 2009.”

For the second year in a row, Verizon's FiOS Internet service has been rated the best in PC Magazine's reader survey of "The Best (and Worst)" ISPs in America. Verizon High Speed Internet service also finished third in overall score on the list of the best DSL providers rated by the magazine's readers.

The survey, conducted between April 7 and May 14, 2008, asked PC Magazine readers to rate their Internet service providers, including fiber-based service, DSL, cable and satellite. The readers were asked to evaluate their provider on 11 categories ranging from speed and reliability to initial setup and overall rating.

Optibase and Scopus Video Networks signed a non-binding term sheet for the sale by Optibase to Scopus of Optibase's digital video and streaming business (the "Business"). In consideration for the purchase of the Business, Scopus will issue Optibase 2,600,000 ordinary shares of Scopus, currently representing prior to the issuance approximately 19% of Scopus' share capital. In addition, the parties agreed on an earn-out mechanism pursuant to which Scopus may issue to Optibase up to additional 900,000 ordinary shares of Scopus subject to achievement of sales goals. Immediately following the closing of such transaction, Optibase will hold approximately 46% of Scopus' issued share capital, or approximately 49% of Scopus' issued share capital, assuming the issuance of the additional share pursuant to the earn-out mechanism.

Digital Fountain announces that NonStop Riot is using Digital Fountain’s DF Splash video delivery network to deliver high-definition music videos to online viewers. NonStop Riot is a music connoisseur’s dream guide to hot, new music online and will deliver online music videos via DF Splash to provide a high quality, HD experience that artists and online viewers demand and expect.

With DF Splash, NonStop Riot is enabling artists and brands to build a stronger relationship with the viewer through HD videos of live performance and lifestyle content. NonStop Riot creates music videos for some of the most popular emerging music artists, including Meiko, The Submarines, Shwayze, and Jessie Baylin, and many more, which can be seen at www.nonstopriot.tv.

ZeeVee's ZvBox has begun shipping and will be made available through select authorized retail partners including Amazon, BestBuy, J&R, NewEgg, TigerDirect, and ZeeVee's own storefront managed by Digital River. ZeeVee also has engaged leading distributor D&H to manage its distribution and supply chain. Previously available exclusively at Amazon.com during a successful three-month pre-order period, the ZvBox bundle (Zv-100) includes everything required to create a private high-definition television channel of everything on your computer and the Internet.

Italy and Spain are forging ahead of the US and other European countries in adoption of online and web TV services, according to “Internet TV : Southern Europe Leads The Way,” from the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service. The Strategy Analytics survey of 3500 Internet users found that 22% of Spanish respondents are regular users of streamed video from broadcaster websites, compared to 18% in the US and only 8% in Germany. This report estimates that 32 million people in the US and 34 million in Europe are now regular users of video streaming from broadcast network websites.

TANDBERG Television has been selected to provide TANDBERG MPEG-4 AVC video processing solutions to NBC during the network’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics from Beijing, China August 8-24. This is the first Olympics where MPEG-4 AVC will be used for HD content contribution and NBC will deploy a variety of TANDBERG Television products at the International Broadcast Center in Beijing and in the US including HD encoders, professional receiver/decoders, multiplexers, modulators, IP adapters and other control equipment.

TopCoder announced the winners of the Truveo Developer Challenge. Competing for a prize pool of $100,000, developers were set loose to build custom applications that use Truveo's open API, to build the next great video search application. Competitors leveraged Truveo, the world's leading video search engine with a continuously-updated index of more than 200 million Web videos, to create 93 powerful new applications in just over two months of competition.

IMS Research is forecasting that shipments of integrated digital TVs will grow to 143 million in 2013, up from and estimated 52 million in 2007. Given that Samsung, LG, Sony, and Funai have signed on to make tru2way certified iDTVs for the US and Korean cable markets and that every iDTV sold in the EU must support a conditional access module interface for pay TV, are the days of the set-top box numbered?

KyLinTV adds mainstream English channels to its current Chinese program line-up. The English Channel Select Package is now available to U.S. subscribers through a partnership between KyLinTV and Sky Angel. Sky Angel IPTV is a leading television broadcast service offering family-friendly programming. The newly added channels include Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet, Blue Highways TV, CBS College Sports, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movie Channel, Military Channel, NASA TV, NFL Network, Pentagon Channel, Planet Green, QVC, The Sportsman Channel, Tennis Channel, Visual Arts Network and The Weather Channel.

Adobe announces a strategic relationship with CCTV International Networks to deliver the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games’ coverage through the Web. The coverage will be delivered to millions of sports fans in mainland China and Macau through the "Olympic Network TV Station," CCTV.com’s next-generation online experience based on Adobe Flash and Flex technology. CCTV.com owns the online video rights to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for mainland China and Macau. With thousands of hours of competition video available on CCTVOlympics.com, the Olympic Network TV Station will allow sports fans to view the Olympic sports, athletes and country teams of their choice.

Brightcove has appointed technology industry leader and entrepreneur Hisashige Hashimoto as general manager of Brightcove KK, Brightcove's Japan-based subsidiary. It was also announced that Web TV distribution giant, PRESENTCAST selected the Brightcove Internet video platform for gorin.jp, the exclusive online video portal in Japan for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. gorin.jp is backed by all of Japan's commercial television broadcasters.

Entone raises $14.5M in venture funding. The Series B round was led by Coral Capital Management and includes existing investors Menlo Ventures and Scale Venture Partners. The funds will be used to support Entone's rapidly growing business and expanding product portfolio in support of global telecom operators providing IPTV and Broadband TV services.

Entone's flagship product, the award-winning Hydra IP Video Gateway, eliminates the need for set-top boxes and new home wiring to deliver IPTV services. Adding to Entone's Connected Home Solution is the company's next-generation media hub products that take Hydra's field-proven capabilities to the next level by integrating advanced services such as web-based video, personal content such as photo libraries, and enhanced viewing capabilities such as whole-home DVR and place shifting.

Blu-ray players are not flying off retailers’ shelves, at least not in the numbers the industry might hope for. A new consumer survey from ABI Research has revealed a widespread reluctance to commit to a Blu-ray player in the near future: over half of the 1000 respondents, citing “other priorities,” say they have no plans to purchase one; a further 23% are likely to buy, but not until sometime in 2009.

ABI Research principal analyst Steve Wilson says that much of the lukewarm response can be attributed to consumers’ perceptions about the value proposition that Blu-ray delivers. “Consumers were happy to embrace standard DVD when that format arrived because the improvement in quality over VHS videotapes was dramatic. Standard DVD didn’t require the purchase of a new TV either. In contrast, while half of the respondents to our survey rated Blu-ray’s quality as ‘much better’ than standard DVD, another 40% termed it only ‘somewhat better,’ and most are very satisfied with the performance of their current DVD players.”