Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue (as well as some stories from last week's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver, which our editorial team was unable to attend):

• Digital TV technology provider, ADB Group, has issued a cautiously optimistic business update. "The Group's business was sound during the third quarter of 2009," the update states. "The margins and profitability ratios continue to be in line with expectations. The top-line growth remains lower compared to previous years, as indicated in the full-year guidance. The Group also enjoys a strong financial position maintained throughout the quarter. The demand from cable and satellite segment remains strong, with the demand from terrestrial segment picking up and IPTV starting to follow. The customer trend of shifting towards high-end product continues. Respectively, the high-definition products contributed a significant majority of the product sales, with PVR set-top boxes forming a clear majority of the products sold. The Group continues in its dominant position as the leader in hybrid technology: most of the product sales today come from either hybrid or hybrid ready set-top boxes." The company also confirmed that the resources of its interactive TV software subsidiary, Osmosys, have been "redistributed to support other business activities."
• OpenTV shareholder, Arcadia Capital Advisors, is encouraging other shareholders not to accept Kudelski's offer to purchase the company's shares for $1.55 each. In press materials, Arcadia summarized the arguments it laid out in a public letter it has filed with the SEC: "1) Intrinsic value of OpenTV shares is substantially higher, 2) Kudelski's offer doesn't account for synergies and foreign exchange benefits, 3) Kudelski has an overly negative view of OpenTV's business, 4) Timing of the Tender Offer is unusual and leads to information asymmetry, 5) Kudelski faces a significant hurdle in a minority squeeze out and delisting strategy, and 6) Tender Offer financing provides insights into Kudelski's ultimate plans to acquire all of OpenTV stock within the financing limitations of its credit facility. Furthermore," Arcadia continued, "the letter stated that Kudelski's Tender Offer is a second attempt in a multi-step process to acquire OpenTV on the cheap. Arcadia believes that Kudelski's past actions and credit facility indicate Kudelski's commitment to own 100% of OpenTV in the near future." Kudelski's response--in which it 1) argues, among other things that OpenTV's "ability to create shareholder value as a standalone public company is at serious risk due to the rapidly changing competitive landscape," that "a material portion of OpenTV’s revenues within the current top 20 customer base are declining, with a continuing trend year-over-year in the future" and that "OpenTV is today the only remaining standalone middleware provider in a market where customer demand for middleware-only products is weakening and where customers are increasingly opting for integrated end-to-end solutions"; 2) states that "were OpenTV to remain independent, Kudelski would advocate through its majority position on OpenTV’s board of directors for a three-year expenditure of US$100 million to US$150 million on developing new technology and solutions through R&D, acquisitions and other strategic initiatives to ensure OpenTV a legitimate opportunity for viability as a standalone entity"; and 3) points out that Discovery Group, the investment company that had been one of the main opponents of Kudelski's previous unsolicited bid for OpenTV "recently sold more than 7 million shares, or the majority of its OpenTV shares, for an average sale price below US$1.55"--is here.
• At last week's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, Cisco demo'd a Web browser-based EPG that is targeted at cable operators considering eventually switching to IPTV from RF, according to an article by Todd Spangler in Multichannel News. In addition to such standard EPG features as grid listings and DVR support, the new guide, called "Cisco Blue," offers widgets that can pull in data and video from the Internet and that link to such services as Yahoo News, Twitter, Flickr and Amazon.com. Also at Cable-Tec Expo, Spangler writes, UEI was demo'ing an on-screen application, called QuickSet, that is designed to facilitate setting up a new remote control via a menu-driven interface.
• Crunchyroll, a broadband video site devoted to anime, has launched an application for the Boxee over-the-top platform. "The app organizes videos into Featured Content, Anime, and Dramas," Boxee explains on its corporate blog. "You can filter by popularity, season, or genre in the Anime section, and the Drama section is broken down into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean content. In Drama, there's forty four Korean shows alone including 'Coffee Prince,' 'Prince Hours,' '90 Days Time to Love,' 'Soulmate' and 'One Fine Day'...The Crunchyroll app will also let you search their catalog and access your Crunchyroll account. Crunchyroll members get the added benefits of 480p and 720p HD streams + being able to watch popular shows as they air in Asia."
• At the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo last week, Motorola launched a new, all-digital HD set-top box as part of its DCX product line. Dubbed the DCX700, the new box incorporates a single 1GHz tuner that supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 ACV, and also features CableCard, MediaCipher, HDMI and Dolby Digital Plus support. When configured with an optional MoCA home networking interface, Motorola says, the box is multiroom DVR-capable and serves as a multimedia client for accessing content from other compatible devices in the home. "As always, Motorola's innovation is driven by the evolving needs of our customers, and this new digital set-top is no exception," Larry Robinson, VP and general manager for digital set-top boxes, Americas, at Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility unit, said in a prepared statement. "Operators will now have devices that meet their lower capital expenditure needs at initial deployment, with the advantage of flexible feature sets that can be expanded without hardware replacement as consumer demand shifts toward more advanced services."
• A games company called Real Time Race has developed "a system that places players side-by-side with the drivers in real races," the BBC reports. According to the corporation, the company would use a car-mounted five-headed camera to create a 360-degree video representation of the race track just before an auto race that is set to be broadcast on TV, and its video recording of the track could then be manipulated by gamers during the live broadcast. "We can put you in your own car, within real TV coverage of a real race, and in real time against the professionals," Real Time Race chief executive, Chris Leigh, told the BBC. "When Jenson Button nails his car from the front you can go and chase after him and try and beat him to the first corner." The BBC's article has more detail (including video) on how the system works.
• TiVo last week launched its DVR service in New Zealand, through its partnership with Hybrid TV, a company that is co-owned by TVNZ and the Seven network, and which has an exclusive license to the box in Australasia.
• Australian interactive TV company, Two Way Limited, says its ITV wagering service, Tab Active, which is available to Foxtel and Optus TV subscribers in Victoria and New South Wales, is growing strongly. According to the company, as of September, over 16,000 Tabcorp account holders had placed at least one bet via the service, representing a 14% increase for the third quarter; nearly 4.8 million bets in total had been placed through the service, with over 1.2 million in the third quarter alone (representing a 21% increase for the quarter); the average number of bets per day grew by 19% during the quarter, averaging over 13,000 per day; and the average bet size for the quarter increased to AUS$8.32. The company also says that cash receipts from its TV wagering service, which totaled $327,000, grew 17% over the prior quarter. However, it also said that receipts from subscriptions to its interactive TV games declined by 29% from the prior quarter, due to the decision by Australian pay-TV platform, Foxtel, to terminate all of its games services on June 30th. Nevertheless, it added, "Sky New Zealand games receipts were up by 15%, after a very successful outbound telemarketing sales campaign in April/May, which saw almost 2,500 new subscribers take up the service"; it also promised that "further marketing initiatives are planned for the games services on both Sky New Zealand and Austar."
• Live Internet broadcasting service, Ustream, has launched a social TV feature, called Social Stream, that allows users to send their comments about the video they are watching on its service simultaneously to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and AIM. The comments include a link to the video.
• UK cable operator, Virgin Media, says that its VOD service averaged 66 million views per month in the third quarter, representing a 46% increase over the same period last year and a record for the company. According to the company, the service was accessed by around 55% of its customers at least once a month during the period.