ant ltd.

IP Vision--a company, backed by French set-top box vendor, Netgem, which currently offers a hybrid set-top box, called the FetchTV SmartBox, that combines reception of linear channels from the UK's free-to-air digital terrestrial platform, Freeview, with OTT access to pay-per-view and subscription-based online VOD services, as well as to free, online programming catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer (note: the company says that the box--which can be connected to any broadband access service--will support BSkyB's Sky Player service early next year)--last week announced plans to offer its FetchTV platform on third-party set-tops

UK-based digital TV software provider, ANT (note: the company recently said that it had surpassed 10 million units deployed worldwide--see the ANT round-up article published on itvt.com, April 13th), announced Tuesday that it has licensed its ANT Galio Client to South Korea's Kaonmedia for inclusion in the latter's latest range of set-top boxes. The boxes, which will be targeted at both the retail and the operator markets, are slated to launch in the fourth quarter.

UK-based digital TV client software provider, ANT, which recently announced that it had surpassed 10 million units deployed worldwide (note: for an in-depth overview of the company, see [itvt]'s interview with its EVP of sales and marketing, Richard Baker, in Issue 7.80), said Thursday that it has hired John Gooch as engineering director. According to the company, Gooch has over 30 years of industry experience, working in a range of high-profile engineering roles: his resume includes an eight-year stint at Nortel Networks (most recently heading up its installation and commissioning operations in Northern Europe) and a five-year stint as network engineering program manager at BT.

At the IBC show in Amsterdam earlier this month, UK-based digital TV client software provider, ANT, released version 3.0 of its ANT Galio software suite, targeted at network operators, content developers and set-top box manufacturers. According to the company, the new version of the software suite is more robust and will allow content providers to push a greater range of "rich and dynamic" multimedia services to audiences without impacting set-top box performance.