ipg

Top interactive program guide distributor Rovi Corp. promoted Thomas Carson to CEO. Carson, who had been executive VP of worldwide sales and marketing, succeeds Fred Amroroso, who had run the company since 2005. 

Because the [itvt] editorial team is on the road this week, we are covering stories in this edition of the newsletter in round-up format:

CHICAGO - [itvt] at NCTA – Broadband wireless services won't topple cable, top industry executives said here Thursday. Instead, cable is poised to profit by delivering content to mobile devices connected to its broadband infrastructure via WiFi connections, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said at the closing general session at The Cable Show. 

Video-on-demand technology vendor SeaChange International is showing off its Nitro user interface and interactive program guide at The Cable Show this week. 

Nitro, which is a user interface that cable operators can use to deliver content to TVs, PCs, tablets and other mobile devices, is a product that SeaChange could use to challenge Rovi's domination of the interactive program guide business. Operators that already have licenses with Rovi – which owns the IPG patents developed by Gemstar-TV Guide International – could also integrate Nitro with guides from Rovi. 

SeaChange built Nitro with HTML5, which allows users to control video content on any screen. 

Video-on-demand technology vendor SeaChange International is expanding into the video navigation business, developing a user interface that pay TV providers can use to deliver content to TVs, PCs, tablets and other mobile devices. 

SeaChange plans to demonstrate its Nitro interface, which relies on HTML5, next week at The Cable Show convention in Chicago. The company said Nitro can support live and on-demand viewing, multiroom DVRs, virtual channels, TV listings, bookmarking and search and recommendation. 

Verizon launched a new version of its Interactive Media Guide for FiOS TV subscribers in a few small markets with several new features, including a mosaic screen displaying thumbnail videos from the most popular channels at any given time. 

The guide includes a new version of Verizon's "What's Hot," application. In addition to displaying the 16 most popular channels being viewed at any given time, subscribers can track the most popular programs that other subscribers are recording on DVRs or ordering through video on demand. Verizon, which populates "What's Hot" listings through anonymous data collected through set-tops, demonstrated the app running on an iPad last summer. 

In a posting on a Verizon blog, Wednesday, the company's SVP of media relations, Eric Rabe, announced that it is upgrading its FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide in order to "make on-screen purchasing and navigation faster and easier." According to Rabe, the upgrade was in response to feedback from FiOS TV customers: "FiOS TV customers wanted more detailed program information, interactive video-on-demand, more shortcuts and easier ways to upgrade their FiOS TV, and I'm happy to say the folks in the FiOS lab have come up with some pretty neat responses," he wrote.

Dutch chip company, NXP Semiconductors, said last week that it has integrated NDS's MediaHighway set-top box software onto its CX2450x system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution for HD set-top boxes. The company says that the integration will reduce time-to-market and integration costs for set-top box operators and OEM's to bring new, interactive TV-enabled pay-TV services to end-users.