New Tech Lets Viewers Send Live Video from 3G Mobiles for Broadcast on TV

Amsterdam-based mobile entertainment technology provider, IceMobile, has unveiled a technology, called VideoCall2TV, that enables viewers with 3G mobile phones to send video to TV programs for broadcast live on the air. According to IceMobile, the technology works on any 3G device or network in the world. It supports billing on a per-minute basis, and, the company says, includes all the content-management, monitoring and on-screen display solutions needed to integrate user-generated live video directly into a show. Among other things, the new technology could be used to allow viewers to take part in live talent contests: it supports what IceMobile calls a "preliminary game round" which takes place on the mobile screen and which allows thousands of people to call in simultaneously, so that producers can make an initial cut of entrants and then send the most talented on to further rounds on live TV. "IceMobile’s clients are media and telecom companies, such as MTV Networks, Endemol, Vodafone and T-Mobile," the company’s CEO, Ralph Cohen, said in a prepared statement. "For years, these companies generated a lot of revenue with SMS-to-TV services, but are now looking for the next big innovation to entertain their audiences, and generate new revenue streams. With IceMobile’s VideoCall2TV, a whole new and profitable chapter in the history of interactive and user-generated TV will open up for these companies."

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Sky COO Confirms Plans to Distribute Content to STB’s via Broadband

Speaking at the Royal Television Society’s Cambridge Convention last week, BSkyB COO, Richard Freudenstein, confirmed that the satellite TV provider will eventually move to a hybrid distribution model, under which it will use broadband connections to its set-top boxes to offer VOD and other services: "New Ethernet connections will allow us to deliver services such as VOD over a broadband pipe, as well as over satellite," he told attendees. Sky has already announced plans for a broadband VOD service that will deliver content from Sky Movies and Sky Sports to PC’s and laptops, and, in the presentation to analysts that followed Sky’s most recent earnings announcements, CEO James Murdoch stated that the company plans to eventually add Ethernet connectivity to all its set-tops. (Note: Sky’s new entry-level Sky+ DVR contains 40 hours of "hidden" recording capacity: the company is believed to be reserving this additional capacity, via software, for new services such as VOD.) Freudenstein also confirmed that the company is planning to offer a mobile TV service that will feature live channels, and to make it possible to program the Sky+ DVR remotely via mobile phones.

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Broadstream in Multi-Year Deal with Converged Communications

–Also Signs Content Agreement with Scripps Networks

Broadstream Communications–a company that specializes in providing outsourced video headend and content distribution and management services to telcos looking to deploy IPTV (note: it touts its outsourced IPTV solutions as allowing smaller operators to offer sophisticated IPTV services without the huge upfront capital and operational expenses associated with a self-built and maintained IPTV headend system)–says that Alaska-based broadband service provider, Converged Communications, has chosen its MPEG-4 IP headend, transport and middleware services to support the launch of an IPTV service over its ADSL2+ and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network in Anchorage. Under the terms of the companies’ multi-year agreement, Broadstream will provide Converged Communications with over 200 channels of content through its IPTVConnect IP video distribution platform; its Bstream Middleware content management platform, meanwhile, will allow Converged to offer interactive services such as VOD, PVR, and Internet-on-TV.

In other Broadstream news: the company has signed an agreement with Scripps Networks that will allow it to offer the latter’s HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living and Great American Country channels on IPTVConnect. Earlier this month, Broadstream announced that it had signed content agreements with the Hallmark Channel, the Hallmark Movie Channel, OLN, the Tennis Channel, Bloomberg Television and the Golf Channel.

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Digeo’s Moxi Integrated with UniTV’s Converged Services Platform

–Will Enable Use of Moxi Telephone on Circuit-Switched Phone Networks

Paul Allen-owned interactive TV products and services company, Digeo, and Integra5 Communications, a provider of converged quad-play messaging and communications technology, say that Digeo’s Moxi Media Center is now interoperable with Integra5’s UniTV converged services platform. The Moxi Media Center–a Linux-based platform which allows end-users to store, access and manage a variety of entertainment content, including digitally recorded TV programming, music, photos, games, and VOD titles, through a single, unified menu–includes Moxi Telephone, an interface to telephony features such as caller-ID, call logging and message control; UniTV, meanwhile, provides real-time delivery of signaling information and content across four types of network: television (cable, satellite and IPTV), data, telephony (VoIP and public-switched telephone), and cellular. According to Digeo, integration of Moxi with UniTV will allow cable operators with circuit-switched or hybrid voice networks to offer advanced telephony and messaging services to customers equipped with Moxi boxes: in such networks, UniTV will receive call signaling and control information and then forward it to the end-user’s Moxi box, which will then display caller ID and message information on the TV. "Interoperability with UniTV allows deployment of Moxi Telephone on a much wider scale," Digeo’s SVP of sales and marketing, Bert Kolde, said in a prepared statement. "Now operators can provide Moxi Telephone over both VoIP and traditional voice networks, allowing them to offer attractive bundling packages and potentially increase average revenue per user."

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Entone Launches Armada Intelligent Asset Manager

San Mateo, Calif.-based VOD and IPTV technology provider, Entone Technologies, has unveiled a product called the Armada Intelligent Asset Manager.According to the company, the product–which is based on its StreamLiner VOD architecture (designed to be used with off- the-shelf hardware from vendors such as HP and IBM)–dynamically and cost-optimally distributes VOD assets to the most appropriate storage medium, server or network, based on real-time usage data: thus, an operator’s most popular VOD assets will automatically be stored in RAM, while less popular assets will automatically be stored in much less expensive media, such as SATA. Entone says that the product continually makes adjustments to storage assignments, so that every storage device is fully utilized with the right balance of streaming capacity to storage space. The company claims that, based on its own tests and feedback from field deployments, using the Armada Intelligent Asset Manager can increase resource efficiency by over 30% and reduce operating expenses by up to 60%, compared to traditional, manual, "best guess" techniques. According to Entone, a number of telcos have already deployed the product to support their VOD services, including Hong Kong’s PCCW, Norway’s Lyse Tel, and US-based Consolidated Communications and Pioneer Long Distance.

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ioko, Kontiki Develop Peer-to-Peer VOD System

UK-based IT company, ioko (note: among other things, the company manages Sky’s Web site and streaming video services), is teaming with Kontiki, a US company that specializes in peer-to-peer video-delivery technologies, on what they say will be a secure, legal, peer-to-peer VOD system, capable of delivering high-definition content. The system, which the companies say will launch shortly, is targeted at European broadband operators. It is powered by peer-to-peer "grid delivery" technology from Kontiki, whose customers include Ernst & Young, Verizon, AOL and the BBC, and which claims that the technology has over 20 million users. The technology is designed to speed up distribution of digital files by allowing users to share unused bandwidth on their computers and servers. It provides digital rights management through support of Microsoft’s Windows Rights Manager and allows content providers to specify how many times their content can be viewed and whether it can be copied. Because, unlike most peer-to-peer technologies, Kontiki’s allows content to be centrally managed, it will be possible to remove content from the Kontiki-ioko VOD system that violates copyright.

The companies claim that their system will avoid scalability problems and network gridlocks associated with traditional, centralized VOD systems. They say that they will be working together to deliver custom services based on the system to a "broad spectrum" of media companies, including their existing customers, the BBC–which is using Kontiki’s grid technology for its soon-to-begin Interactive Media Player trial–and Sky–which plans to launch a PC-based broadband VOD service for Sky Movies and Sky Sports subscribers in the fall. (Note: Kontiki’s technology also supports the Open Media Network, a non-profit broadband VOD service that provides an array of programming from US public broadcasters, and offers a measure of interactivity. For more on this, see [itvt] Issue 6.27 Part 2.)

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Thales Unveils New version of its SmartVision TV IPTV Platform

–Also Launches New VOD Solution for IPTV

At the IBC show in Amsterdam earlier this month, TV infrastructure company, Thales, unveiled a new version of its SmartVision TV IPTV platform. (Note: the platform has been deployed by France Telecom to support its "MaLigne tv" video-over-DSL service: Thales says that an extension of its contract with France Telecom that was signed earlier this summer could result in the platform supporting a million MaLigne tv subscribers "fairly soon," if the telco’s expansion plans for the service are successful.) According to Thales, the new version of the platform provides support for MPEG-4 AVC; for multiple platforms? TV, PC and mobile–on a single network; for remote end-user interaction with video services via the Web or mobile phones; for management of triple-play services through an end-user portal (note: the portal’s triple-play support includes phone service management, click-to-dial and a call log); and for a variety of VOD-types (e.g. subscription VOD and VOD with DVD-like features) and network PVR. The platform’s VOD and nPVR support is enabled by Thales’ new VOD solution for IPTV deployments, Sapphire VOD. The solution supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC, and, Thales claims, leverages an advanced network device interface to offer "one of the highest numbers of streams per server available on the market today."

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HBO On Demand to Mark Hispanic Heritage Month

To mark Hispanic Heritage Month, premium programmer, HBO, will create a special "Hispanic Heritage" category within the "Inside HBO" area of its VOD service, HBO On Demand. The category, which will be available October 3rd through 31st, will feature a variety of Latino-oriented content, including HBO Films’ Spanish-language indie hit, "Maria Full of Grace," as well as a range movies and other programming across a variety of genres, including drama, comedy, and biography.

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Two Way TV Australia in Deal with Hong Kong’s ATV

Two Way TV Australia–a company which holds exclusive perpetual licenses to use technologies and content from Two Way TV UK in Australia and New Zealand, and which, following an IPO in which it raised AUS$40 million to fund its expansion, recently signed a licensing deal with the UK company that will allow it to use the latter’s technologies in a number of new Asian markets–has signed a deal with Hong Kong-based free-to-air broadcaster, Asia Television (ATV) and TV production company, International Football Marketing, to enable interactivity on the latter’s pre-game soccer panel series, "Kick Off Hot Talk." TWTV Australia will use the Simcast SMS-to-TV technology it licenses from its UK counterpart to enable interactive competitions, voting and chat on the program, starting with the latter’s UEFA Cup pre-match show on September 27th (note: the show will have 23-episode run, ending May 17th). Viewers will be able to compete to win cash and other prizes, including a grand prize at the end of the series, consisting of a trip to London and tickets to major soccer games. The cost for viewers to participate will be HK$2.00 per message in Hong Kong and RMB1 per message in mainland China. TWTV Australia says that the show’s producers anticipate that 3-6% of its audience will use the new interactive TV service: ATV claims that the show attracts approximately 600,000 viewers in Hong Kong and 4 million in the neighboring mainland China province of Guangdong. Net proceeds from the service (after carrier costs) will be shared equally between ATV, TWTV Australia and the show’s producer: TWTV Australia estimates that its share could total anywhere between Aus$170,000 and Aus$430,000. The company claims to be in negotiations with "numerous" other broadcasters in Asia that are interested in using its technologies to roll out ITV services.

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Interactive TV Sudoku Launches on Sky Gamestar

Puzzler Sudoku, an interactive TV version of the popular puzzle game, has launched on Sky Gamestar. The ITV version of the game is based on content supplied by Puzzler Media, the company that publishes the UK’s best-selling Sudoku print magazine, and follows the same rules as the print version: players must fill in a 9×9 grid in such a way that 1) every row, column and 3×3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9, and 2) the same number does not appear twice in any row, column or 3×3 box.

The Sky Gamestar version also offers various interactive extras, including:

• Demo (provides information on how experts play Sudoku).
• Four levels of difficulty ("easy," "mild," "medium," and "hard").
• Cheat (if players need help with a number, they can click on a "Cheat" button to have the app fill in a random square).
• Pen or pencil (allows players to toggle between pen and pencil mode, and enter up to nine pencil numbers into a single cell, then delete each number as others are crossed off).
• Check (when the player has finished filling out the puzzle, the app highlights any mistakes: the player has the choice of correcting errors or simply moving on).
• Timer (displays the amount of time taken to complete a puzzle).
• HighScore (an extra game where players can submit high scores for a chance to win prizes).
• Skip (allows players to skip between grids: each level of the puzzle has three grids to work through).
• Rows & Columns (highlighted columns and rows).
• Paths (shows matching numbers across the grid).

Players can purchase three complete puzzles at any one level for 60p or purchase unlimited access to all four levels of puzzles for £1.00 per session.

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