News Round-Up (IX): Time Warner Cable, Comic-Con, Transgaming, TubeMogul, Tunerfish

The [itvt] editorial team is on the road this week and next, so we are covering most stories in round-up/summary form, and we anticipate that there will be some additional interruptions of our regular news publishing schedule beyond that. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers.

• To mark Comic-Con, Time Warner Cable is offering a selection of VOD movies based on comic books, including "Clash of the Titans," "Batman Begins," "V for Vendetta" and "The Dark Knight." The movies are located in a special "Comic-Con" category within the MSO's VOD platform, which also features trailers for upcoming theatrical movies and "exclusive" local coverage.
• Transgaming has announced that it has secured its first agreement to deploy GameTreeTV, its on-demand video games service that it says is compatible with any Intel CE Media Processor-based device. According to the company, the deployment "will be with a European Managed Service Operator (MSO) who will begin releasing the new generation of set-top boxes to their subscriber base of multi-millions of households." A commercial launch is scheduled for late 2010. "This agreement is a major milestone and demonstration of TransGaming's leading role in revolutionizing the delivery of high-end interactive content in the digital home," Transgaming president and CEO, Vikas Gupta, said in a prepared statement. "We are excited that European consumers will be the first to enjoy the ability to play great games directly through their set-top box and conveniently will be able to transact their games through a variety of consumer-friendly business models."
• TubeMogul has announced that it is now offering its InPlay suite of video player analytics free of charge.
• Tunerfish, a new social TV service developed by employees of Plaxo, the address book/social networking service that Comcast acquired back in 2008 (note: Tunerfish is a business unit of Comcast Interactive Media--for more on the service, see the articles published on itvt.com, May 24th and June 28th), has announced that it is offering badges for the HBO vampire series, "True Blood." The badges, the "Truebie" and the "Maker," were previously available only for the June 13th season-three premiere of the show. "To get your Truebie, all you need to do is come to Tunerfish on a Sunday evening during the broadcast of 'True Blood'--and share out that you're watching to your followers on Twitter and/or your friends on Facebook!," Tunerfish founder, John McCrea, explains on the company's blog. "But becoming a Maker is quite a bit harder. You'll have to turn 10 or more humans into Truebies, too (by having them click the link on your share to Facebook or Twitter, then sharing out that they're watching, too). Only the truly influential will succeed at this challenge."