Disney.com again broke records this summer with new site traffic and “time spent online” records in August. Last month the Disney Online network of sites scored more than 32.3 million unique visitors according to comScore Media Metrix, beating the most recent site record set in June by more than two million unique visitors and representing a 26 percent increase over the prior year. Features recently added to the site such as new “Games,” “Video,” “Character” and “My Page” portals contributed to the milestones. Other drivers included entertainment events and content based on Disney Channel and Disney music properties as well as a user-generated content promotion, ‘U Rock the Summer on Disney.com.’

Crackle.com launches its new fall season September 15th online and on mobile. Crackle's mobile partners, which include AT&T and Sprint, will launch eleven original series (listed below), including projects from three-time Emmy Award-winning actor Brad Garrett; the infamous Hollywood improv troupe, the Groundlings; up-and-coming comedians Owen Benjamin ("The House Bunny") and Dan Levy; film/TV and videogame producer, Jace Hall; music impresario Vincent Moon, and several others.

Additionally, the series' will premiere on several other Crackle online partners in its distribution network, including YouTube; MySpace; Hulu; AOL Video; Adobe; and direct to Sony BRAVIA TVs via BRAVIA Internet Video Link.

Sigma will demonstrate a wide range of consumer technology solutions at IBC 2008 in Amsterdam. The following innovative silicon solutions for advanced consumer products are being showcased through Tuesday, September 16 in room BM24 located at the RAI Congress Centre.

• SMP8654 SoC media processor technology demonstrations. As the successor to the SMP8634 -- the defacto standard in the IPTV set-top box industry -- the SMP8654 raises the bar and increases system performance by 50%, decreases overall set-top box costs, maintains low power operation, provides backward software compatibility, and supports Linux as well as upcoming support for Microsoft Mediaroom. The SMP8654 will be demonstrated within a number of new set-top box designs from leading consumer electronics manufacturers around the world.

More after the jump.

COMSTAR-Direct is expanding its IPTV head-end to support MPEG-4 AVC encoding and transcoding. The Moscow-based ISP is a long-standing customer of TANDBERG Television’s MPEG-2 encoders for its standard definition television service. The upgrade means COMSTAR-Direct can benefit from the higher bandwidth efficiencies of MPEG-4 AVC encoding, which is ideally suited for video over DSL networks. The addition of TANDBERG Television’s single module iPlex transcoding means the operator can ingest widely available MPEG-2 feeds and convert them to MPEG-4 AVC without the need to decode and re-encode. This one-step approach to transcoding is cost-effective, helps preserve picture quality and makes it considerably easier to re-synchronize video with subtitles. Visitors to IBC can see TANDBERG Television’s iPlex transcoding in action in Hall 1.D61.

Verimatrix's VCAS for DVB 2.0 solution, which extends the reach of its multiple layered security architecture to digital broadcast content in satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast networks where no direct return path is available. Building on its initial VCAS for DVB release targeting hybrid networks, this support for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) services can seamlessly be offered with the same pay-TV head-end architecture supporting IPTV and hybrid networks. Verimatrix will be demonstrating VCAS for DVB 2.0 at IBC2008 in stand 4.B45.

Frost & Sullivan will host a live briefing on Wednesday, September 17, at 11:00 AM EDT to provide industry participants an overview of a recently published study focusing on Broadband Markets in Latin America.

Even though the broadband penetration is still very low when compared to global standards, the broadband services market is developing swiftly in Latin America. We may not be that far apart from truly being able to experience the connected home in the region. Wired and wireless broadband connectivity in addition to the launching of new applications including IPTV, VoIP, Video on Demand, etc, represent the first steps towards TV/PC convergence, the newest trend in the telecommunications market. Highlights of the briefing include analysis of convergence trends, broadband market sizing and forecast, penetration strategies, examples of new applications in the region and trends for the future.

At the IBC2008 trade show and exhibition, which runs from September 11-16, Alcatel-Lucent is highlighting how it is spearheading the evolution of the TV experience for the next generation of TV viewers. At the show, Alcatel-Lucent - in Hall 12P, Stand # C20 in Amsterdam's RAI convention center - is reasserting its commercial leadership in IPTV, as the company is currently supporting more than 13 percent of all IPTV subscribers worldwide across its various platforms - more than any vendor. The company also is demonstrating its technical strength in mobile TV, having achieved a series of significant milestones with its Unlimited Mobile TV solution.

Telcos are increasingly positioning their IPTV services as part of bundled broadband packages, and the services are gaining subscribers at a rapid pace. At year-end 2007, the global IPTV subscriber base reached 16m clients and is expected to grow five-fold in the next four years. Although regulations (such as those in China or Brazil) have played a role in limiting the scope of IPTV portfolios, it is the marketing strategy employed by each telco that is determining the pace of IPTV development in each market.

FOXSports.com on MSN announced Verizon Wireless customers can watch full-length programming from FOXSports.com on their Verizon Wireless V CAST Video phones.

The following FOXSports.com on MSN shows are now available on V CAST Video from Verizon Wireless:

• "The Online OT" -- A Sunday, post-game look at the week's pro football action.
• "Coaches' Corner" -- Interviews and analysis featuring some of the nation's top college football coaches.
• "Pro Football Preview Show" -- An in-depth look at the upcoming pro football season, including analysis from FOXSports.com experts and interviews with players, coaches and team execs.

Ericsson extends its TV offering with the world's first IMS integrated IPTV middleware. The company's open, standards based, end-to-end IPTV solution supports ease of integration and delivers vendor choice for operators.

Leading TV technology providers have integrated their consumer devices, content protection solutions, video servers and applications software with the new Ericsson IPTV solution, an open, carrier-class solution that is designed to drive the future of converged and blended communications and entertainment services.

TANDBERG Television's MPEG-4 AVC compression and IP multiplexing solutions are being used by Telenor Satellite Broadcasting to provide IP video contribution and direct-to-consumer IPTV services in Scandinavia. TANDBERG Television is providing encoding and multiplexing from six locations across northern Europe and Scandinavia, with all video distributed across an IP transport network for IPTV consumer services in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Viaccess and Orca announce at the IBC convention in Amsterdam, the introduction of a pre-integrated end-to-end hybrid solution over the open internet for IPTV service providers, content aggregators and broadcasters.

Succeeding the release of the complete end to end solution for IPTV, the new hybrid solution combines digital video broadcasting channels, and advanced interactive services through the Internet, such as progressive VOD downloads, catch-up TV, push-VOD and client personal video recording.

comScore releass its July 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, reporting that Americans viewed more than 11.4 billion videos for a total duration of 558 million hours during the month.

Google Sites Maintains Dominant Position

In July, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with more than 5 billion videos viewed (representing a 44 percent share of the online video market), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 446 million videos (3.9 percent), followed by Microsoft Sites with 282 million (2.5 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 269 million (2.4 percent). Hulu ranked eighth with 119 million videos, representing 1 percent of all videos viewed.

Since 2006, TECHEXPO Company, ЕЕВС 2008 Telecom & Broadcasting organizer, has held regular researches of telecom service operators and providers activity in the Ukrainian market, involving on average about 100 companies.

In 2006 the research was dedicated to the study of business communications and the specifics of marketing activity in the telecom market of Ukraine. In 2007 the subject-matter of the research was the content and forms of business activity of operator market entities. This year report has been elaborated on the specifics of buying activity in В2В segment of telecommunication market; operators’ demands for information, their perspective plans, vectors of technical and marketing development, positions and preferences in working with equipment suppliers.

On October 29, 2008, during the first day of the exhibition EEBC Telcom&Broadcasting, the most significant event for cable operators market will be held – All-Ukrainian cable operators congress where the most important issues of cable television market will be discussed. Among them are the questions related to channel adaptation, the volume and matter of content in cable networks, as well as the questions of regulatory policy.