Broadcast International will demonstrate the latest version of its patented CodecSys CE-1000 multi-channel H.264 / MPEG-4 Part 10 / AVC encoder at the IPTV North America World Forum on July 21-22 in New York City. The CE-1000 is designed for broadcasters who require high channel density and is specifically well suited for IPTV, satellite and Telco service providers, delivering a very cost-effective way to solve their bandwidth crisis. The CE-1000 is a software-based encoder featuring an industry standard, highly efficient, fully compliant H.264 codec and can receive live input through a capture board or encode from a file source. It encodes both audio and video and muxes it using an industry standard MPEG 2 Transport Stream.

Minerva Networks unveiled its iTVManager 4.0. The Company’s fourth generation platform features a robust Widgets Engine which enables blended Internet and Television services, whole-home digital video recorder functionality, new user interfaces as well as advanced redundancy and high-availability features.

Espial announces a reseller agreement with Power & Tel. As part of the agreement, Power & Tel will resell the Espial MediaBase Video-On-Demand platform to service providers in the United States. Power & Tel is an independent distributor of material for the telecommunications and cable TV industries worldwide. Espial MediaBase is included in their end-to-end IPTV solution to US customers.

SeaChange announces the availability of a new universal session resource manager that will allow managed network operators to deliver the best possible video experience to consumers no matter the device they are using to watch or when. SeaChange’s uSRM will enable operators to guarantee quality of service across access, aggregation and edge networks for cable, IP and wireless delivery of video.

ViewCast announces that interact SpA will now distribute ViewCast's comprehensive portfolio of products, including the award-winning Osprey video capture cards and Niagara encoding appliances, to the regions of Albania, Algeria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Tunisia and Turkey.

KyLinTV announces the launch of its new strategic partnership with Phoenix China News and Entertainment, aimed at delivering the latest and best in Chinese television programming to viewers in Europe. KyLinTV already has a proven track record in North America, where it offers more than 60 Chinese channels and 30,000-plus hours of VOD programming to Chinese-speaking households. Phoenix CNE is the European operation of Phoenix TV, the leading Chinese TV brand headquartered in Hong Kong.

Netflix, Demand Media, and ON Networks are the latest content providers to join Sony's BRAVIA Internet Video platform. In the fall of 2009, Netflix members will be able to instantly watch more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes on Sony BRAVIA Internet Video-capable HDTVs and on previous BRAVIA models compatible with Sony's BRAVIA Internet Video Link module.

Infonetics Research releases the 1Q09 edition of its IPTV and Switched Digital Video Equipment, Services, and Subscribers report. Highlights follow. "All eyes are focused on video on-demand and streaming content servers as more and more programming moves to on-demand. VoD is rapidly becoming EoD (everything on-demand) as operators beef up their streaming server capacity to support not only HD VoD, but network and RS-DVR services, targeted advertising, and start-over services, all of which will become standard features for video providers. These changes will lead revenue for VoD and streaming content servers to triple between 2008 and 2013," said Jeff Heynen, Infonetics Research's Directing Analyst, Broadband and Video.

KIT digital continues its strong organic growth by adding a number of globally recognized brands to its customer list in the first half of 2009. The company has expanded its client reach in each of its three regional coverage areas, Asia-Pacific and the Americas) with the addition of brands like PMT and MSN, Tabcorp (Asia-Pacific) and Citadel Broadcasting (the Americas). The new business includes deployments across a variety of industry verticals and consumer "screens" (browser, mobile handset, IPTV-enabled television set), demonstrating the company's device-agnostic approach and the breadth of functionality available through the KIT VX Video Management Platform.

Fans who weren't able to win one of the 17,500 lottery-distributed tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service and funeral in Los Angeles, will be able to watch the memorial service live online on the major television network sites. The service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern) and police expect more than 250,000 people to cram onto the sidewalks outside the arena to pay their final respects to the King of Pop.

Some of the biggest names in pop music, sports and politics are expected to take part in the memorial service, including Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer, Civil rights leader Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, basketball stars Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant.

Watch here.

DiviNet and Keisense announce the successful integration of Keisense's ConnecTiVi into DiviNet's IPTV network. The combined solution will enable a range of interactive services over legacy television sets. DiviNet Access Technologies Limited provides an End-to End IPTV solution. A consortium, of DiviNet, WICE Net and MKCL, is providing IPTV services on the BSNL's Broadband network, and are providing IPTV services in 21 cities covering 5 states in India.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Asia-Pacific Telecom Insider / Vol. 1, No 3, Edition 6 - IPTV in Asia-Pacific: Profit Picture Fuzzy, but Momentum Building" report to their offering. Despite the massive investments necessary in Asia/Pacific's IPTV market, both in technology and content procurement, telecom operators must invest to gain subscriber market share according to a new report.

comScore released its report on visitation and video viewership at entertainment news sites based on data from the comScore Media Metrix and comScore Video Metrix services. Nearly 55 million Americans visited an entertainment news site in May 2009, representing a 7-percent increase versus the previous year. Online video has also become an increasingly important channel for content in the category, with the number of videos viewed growing 53 percent in the past year.