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TAG Networks--an interactive TV games company that has developed a games-on-demand channel, called TAG, which it says integrates with existing VOD infrastructures (note: the company has a history of working closely with ActiveVideo Networks and is involved in the latter's deployments with Time Warner Cable and Cablevision)--contacted [itvt] Tuesday to let us know that new TNS data, measuring daily time spent viewing per set-top box, show that the TAG channel topped 43 linear channels available through Time Warner Cable's Hawaiian arm, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, for the most minutes viewers spent watching.

Fabless semiconductor company, Entropic Communications, announced Monday that its silicon has been selected by DirecTV for integration into a new line of set-top boxes that will offer new coax-based networking capabilities, including multi-room viewing. The new, HD "H-24 DVR" boxes (of which client and server versions will be offered) are currently in production, the company says, and will be in DirecTV customer homes starting later this quarter.

Interactive TV software developer, Zodiac Interactive (note: the company's EBIF user agent is being deployed by MSO Cablevision--see the article published on itvt.com, November 5th), on Monday unveiled the latest version (2.5) of its PowerUp ITV framework, a cross-platform software that the company bills as unifying and enabling advanced interactive TV applications across multiple set-tops, including legacy boxes.

UK incumbent telco, BT, has launched a new set-top box for its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered hybrid IP/DTT service, BT Vision.

Syabas, a Fremont, Calif.-based company that specializes in over-the-top set-top hardware and software (note: for more on the company's Popcorn Hour A-110 and C-200 OTT set-top boxes, see the article published on itvt.com, December 16th), today announced the launch of an open-platform OTT set-top box, dubbed the Popbox, which it says will stream music, movies, photos, games, social media updates and other content to HDTV's and will retail for $129.

Boulder, Colorado-based start-up, FreedTV, on Wednesday launched what it bills as "the first cross-platform social media television application supporting real-time connectivity to mainstream television set-top boxes." In association with its existing Facebook WIWA (stands for "What I'm Watching") and iPhone applications, the company says, the new FreedTV Video Service Provider (VSP) app "combines the compelling content of broadcast and cable television with the peer-to-peer communication of social networking to create a new standard in interactive television." "Television viewing was once a social experience based on 'event' programming, like 'The Wonderful World of

Syabas, a Fremont, Calif.-based company that specializes in over-the-top set-top hardware and software, said Tuesday that it has signed a deal with Thinking Screen Media (formerly known as Frame Media) to offer the latter's FrameChannel content widgets on its Popcorn Hour A-110 and C-200 OTT set-top boxes and on its new DAVID platform, a "working prototype" of which it plans to unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month.

Geneva-based set-top box company, Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), announced today that it has demonstrated live that it can "deliver the promise of tru2way for cable system operators and consumers." According to the company, at a recent CableLabs Interop event it showed how its ADB-4820C HD set-top box can seamlessly support the full functionality of both Cisco and Motorola tru2way headends and CableCARDs: the box was first connected to a Cisco headend using a Cisco CableCARD, and displayed Time Warner Cable's TV channels and tru2way interactive guide.

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

Manitoba Telecom Services-subsidiary, MTS Allstream, on Monday announced the launch of what it claims is Canada's first whole-home PVR service. According to the company, the service, which is offered on its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV platform, MTS Ultimate TV (available in Portage, La Prairie, Brandon and Winnipeg) for CAN$5:00 a month, allows users to record up to three programs at the same time and play back programs from any connected TV in the home, as well as pause, replay and rewind live TV from their main set-top box. All existing PVR customers have been automatically upgraded to whole-home PVR, the company says.

Cambridge, UK-based IPTV set-top box vendor, Amino Communications, said Monday that it has demo'd an IPTV set-top box powered by the new Intel Atom CE4100 processor. Intel bills the CE4100 (formerly codenamed "Sodaville"), which was unveiled at the recent Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, as the first 45nm-manufactured consumer electronics SoC based on Intel architecture, as supporting Internet and broadcast applications on one chip, and as having the processing power and audio/video components needed to run rich media applications, such as advanced 3D graphics, HD video, and home theater-quality audio.

Delivery Agent, a company that specializes in developing what it calls "shopping-enabled" entertainment (i.e.

Geneva-based set-top box company, Advanced Digital Broadcast (note: the company, generally referred to as ADB, is the corporate stablemate of interactive TV software and services specialists, Vidiom Systems and Osmosys), announced last week that it has launched its first high-definition interactive digital terrestrial set-top box for the Italian retail market. According to the company, the i-CAN3810T-HD, as the box is branded, is being distributed in retail outlets throughout Italy by ADB partner ZAP, and will support the Mediaset Premium pay-TV service, which is accessed via a pre-paid card or through the Easypay subscription solution.