SureWest Switches to Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV Platform

SureWest Communications, an independent triple-play provider that offers service in and around Sacramento, Calif. and Kansas City, MO, announced Tuesday that it will deploy the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV platform to power an advanced TV service over its IP-based fiber-to-the-home and copper networks in the greater Sacramento region. The company, which previously used Minerva's IPTV middleware platform for its Sacramento-area TV offering, anticipates that the new Mediaroom-powered service will be available to new customers by the end of the year. It says that the Mediaroom platform, together with various technological advances (such as implementing MPEG-4 compression), will allow it to extend its TV offering to an additional 25,000 marketable homes that currently receive only its voice and data services (note: the company says that it will reach 15,000 additional homes with the new service by December, and an additional 10,000 by the second quarter of next year). According to a report in Telephony magazine, those 25,000 homes are served by bonded ADSL2+ lines. SureWest CTO, Bill DeMuth, told the publication that Microsoft Mediaroom "will allow us to provide a better experience over the copper network because it handles bandwidth resource and conflict management very well while providing a very intuitive and expected customer viewing experience."

According to SureWest, deploying Microsoft Mediaroom will allow it to offer such advanced TV services as whole-home DVR (allows customers to watch recorded shows on any TV in their home); the ability to watch and record up to four channels at one time; DVR remote scheduling, caller-ID on TV, and other third-party applications; multiview; fast channel-change; HD VOD; media-sharing (allows customers to view PC-based photo and music files on their TV); and the ability to offer "cutting-edge" interactive TV applications that support "rich interactivity" and "seamless blending of Web content and services with broadcast TV." "SureWest has been and continues to be a leader in the deployment of advanced IP-based entertainment services," SureWest CTO, DeMuth, said in a prepared statement. "The integration of
Mediaroom is a natural evolution of our technologies that meets the ever-expanding demands of our customers. Reliability and ease-of-use have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and retention. We have been testing the Mediaroom-powered service in actual customer environments and it has unequivocally delivered far more impressive results than any of the other options we reviewed. The flexibility designed into Mediaroom will best serve the future needs of customers as well. The technology allows us to provide services in new ways that will further blur the lines between traditional TV, Internet and telephone. By combining Mediaroom with our best-in-class network, SureWest is once again raising the bar and delivering an unrivaled experience to our customers." Added Andreas Mueller-Schubert, general manager of Microsoft's TV, Video & Music Platforms business: "We are pleased that SureWest has selected Microsoft Mediaroom as the software platform to enable its advanced TV service for customers in the Sacramento market. Mediaroom provides operators of all sizes with a flexible and scalable platform for delivering a world-class IPTV service. In a highly competitive market, Mediaroom enables SureWest to deliver a differentiated TV experience and a more personal and connected alternative to existing TV services."