SeaChange Signs Two Large Master Purchase Agreements

--SeaChange-Subsidiary ODG Sells Stake in FilmFlex

VOD and interactive TV technology provider, SeaChange International, announced last week that it has signed a master purchase agreement with a company it described as "one of the five largest cable television companies in the US" and a "longstanding customer" (note: the five largest cable companies in the US are Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, and Cablevision, all of which--except Charter--are existing SeaChange VOD customers; Charter is, however, a customer of the company's advertising-insertion solutions). According to SeaChange, the agreement will see the cable operator purchasing its VOD hardware and software, its advertising-insertion solutions, and associated support services. The company says that the deal designates it as the operator's "exclusive" provider of VOD software and hardware. The agreement has a one-year term, and automatic one-year renewal provisions (subject to SeaChange meeting certain conditions). SeaChange also says that it expects to finalize two other similar agreements in the near future.

Last November, the company announced that it had signed a VOD hardware, software and services master purchase agreement with "one of the largest telecommunications companies in North America" (which [itvt] has learned is Verizon). That five-year agreement covers the licensing of SeaChange's VOD set-top-box client software, its Axiom component software (note: the latter is a VOD infrastructure solution that is billed as automating the ingest, lifecycle-management and delivery of on-demand content across a range of networks), and its DVD On Demand software (allows navigable, interactive DVD-style movies-with-extras packages to be offered on SeaChange's VOD platform, and can also be used to offer ITV games; Verizon has stated publicly that it plans to significantly increase the ITV games offerings on its FiOS pay-TV platform this year). The agreement also includes annual software subscription and maintenance services, SeaChange says, and the opportunity for custom software development. The company says that the agreement is structured to incorporate other current and future SeaChange VOD products and services.

In other SeaChange news: in a recent regulatory filing with the SEC, the company revealed that its VOD content subsidiary, On Demand Group (ODG), has sold its stake in FilmFlex Movies--a company that offers a VOD service on the UK's Virgin Media cable platform--to FilmFlex's two other owners, Disney and Sony, for £9 million in cash (note: the filing observes that "in connection with this sale, SeaChange is obligated to issue £1,600,000 in shares of SeaChange to the former shareholders of ODG pursuant to the terms of the original Agreement for the Sale and Purchase of Share Capital of ODG, dated as of September 23, 2005...by and among SeaChange, Anthony Kelly, Andrew Birchall and the other parties set forth on the signature pages thereto"). According to the regulatory filing, the FilmFlex purchase agreement prohibits On Demand Group and its affiliated parties, including SeaChange, from offering a competing VOD service on Virgin Media prior to December 31st, 2009, and from poaching FilmFlex employees before December 21st, 2009.

Microsoft: Mediaroom Now Delivering IPTV to over 1 Million Set-Tops

--Company Unveils New Mediaroom Features, Partnerships at CES

At CES in Las Vegas last week, Microsoft announced that its Mediaroom IPTV platform is now delivering video services to over a million set-top boxes worldwide and that its operator customers are, on average, adding two new IPTV subscriber households every minute. In addition, the company said, the platform is on track to reach a million subscriber homes in Q1, 2008.

According to the company, Mediaroom has now been deployed by, or is being trialed by, over 20 service providers in 18 countries on four continents (note: recently announced customers include India's Reliance Communications; US-based nTelos; T-Com's Montenegran pay-TV service, Extra TV; Italy's Wind; and the United Arab Emirates' du). Features offered by the platform include simultaneous recording of multiple HD and SD channels, personal media sharing, whole-home and remote DVR, multiple picture-in-picture scenarios, and integration with Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming device. "The Microsoft Mediaroom platform is a key component in our vision to allow consumers to experience entertainment content on any device, anytime, anywhere," Enrique Rodriguez, corporate VP of Microsoft's Connected Television Division, said in a prepared statement. "It is very rewarding to see this vision materialize with the support of our partners and customers. It is even more gratifying that the opportunity ahead for consumers to experience connected TV is even bigger than we had envisioned."

Microsoft announced a number of new Mediaroom features, applications and partnerships at CES:

• It launched a featured called DVR Anywhere, which is billed as enabling end-users to watch their recorded TV programs on any television set in their home. According to the company, the solution will allow end-users to, for example, begin watching a recorded movie in their livingroom, resume watching it on the kitchen TV during dinner, and finish watching it in their bedroom. It also allows end-users to watch the same or different recorded programs from multiple TV's in the home simultaneously, the company says, while recording other shows for later viewing. Because the solution is software-based, it requires no TV tuners and only requires that one set-top box in the home have a hard drive (thus lowering expenses both for service providers and consumers, Microsoft points out). Microsoft claims that DVR Anywhere, which will support both SD and HDTV, is the first whole-home DVR offering currently available to IPTV operators.
• The company has partnered with Showtime Networks and Turner Broadcasting on applications designed to "showcase the potential of Microsoft Mediaroom to bring consumers new, personalized connected TV experiences." The applications, which were demo'd in Microsoft's CES booth (note: they are not yet available to consumers), were built in collaboration with ES3. They include 1) NASCAR on TNT, an app that would enhance TNT's coverage of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races by allowing viewers to choose between several different, live, in-car cameras and audio feeds, while simultaneously watching TNT's main race broadcast; 2) Showtime Interactive Boxing, which, among other things, would allow viewers to choose between several live audio feeds while watching boxing coverage; and 3) an application that would accompany CNN's 2008 election coverage, allowing viewers to access information from CNN.com and possibly also to participate in interactive straw polls for candidates.
• Dublin, Ireland-based interactive TV company, emuse technologies, has designed and built a Mediaroom application called My Pad, that Microsoft demo'd at CES. According to the company, the application connects viewers to their online social networks through the TV, via Windows Live services, and also enables them to share personal pages that exist online and on the TV.
• The company has teamed with ChoiceStream to develop an application that provides personalized TV and VOD recommendations.
• The company has formed an "ecosystem partnership" with Broadcom that will see them working together to ensure that Mediaroom client software operates on next-generation set-top boxes that use Broadcom's BCM7405 system-on-a-chip.

CloverLeaf Digital in Localized ITV Deals with Grande, Pioneer Telephone

CloverLeaf Digital, a Brooklyn-based interactive TV applications developer that specializes in building and managing localized "walled-garden" services, says that Texas-based competitive broadband provider, Grande Communications, has signed a three-year extension of an agreement, under which CloverLeaf provides it with a custom version of its walled-garden news and information service, branded as Grande Interactive TV (note: Grande is somewhat of a pioneer in the interactive TV space: in addition to the CloverLeaf-powered walled-garden service, it offers services based on ICTV's ActiveVideo platform). Grande Interactive TV is currently available to digital cable subscribers in seven Texan cities, and includes news and sports coverage from the Associated Press; local weather info from AccuWeather; local entertainment guides; horoscopes; and a local events calendar that is published by community organizations, using CloverLeaf's DashDaily community publishing tools. The service also features an extensive line-up of video clips (powered by ICTV's ActiveVideo platform), including news clips from the Associated Press and Odessa CBS affiliate, KOSA, and movie trailers. "As we enter our fifth year in business, our early contracts are coming to a conclusion, and although they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, we consider it the greatest testament of the value of our services when our customers renew their contracts with long-term agreements," CloverLeaf founder and managing partner, Lawrence Brickman, said in a prepared statement. According to Grande's chief service officer, Chad Jones, the operator plans to launch additional interactive TV services with CloverLeaf in the future.

In other CloverLeaf Digital news:

• The company says that Pioneer Telephone, which claims to be the fourth-largest telephone cooperative in the US, has launched its DotDaily localized interactive TV service. The service is now providing localized news and information to IPTV subscribers served by 72 exchanges in Oklahoma. It features news and sports coverage from the Associated Press, local weather info from AccuWeather, local movie guides, horoscopes, and local content (including community events calendars, school lunch menus and community slide shows) published by community organizations via CloverLeaf's DashDaily tools. "CloverLeaf's localized walled garden contributes to our efforts to provide our customers with content and functionality that they can't get from cable or satellite," Pioneer's video business manager, Scott Ulsaker, said in a prepared statement. "CloverLeaf was able to localize their service for every exchange on our network, and we already have several community organizations creating local content with the community content publishing tools."
• The company has signed a deal with Digeo to provide walled-garden information services to the latter's Moxi platform (see article in this issue).

BT Vision IPTV Service Integrated with Microsoft Xbox 360

--Motorola Chosen as Lead Supplier of Next-Gen BT Vision Set-Tops
--BT Vision Download Store Trials Ad-Supported Movie Downloads
--BT Vision IPTV Service Now Available on Self-Install Basis
--New BT Vision Magazine Represents First Use of New Microsoft Browser

At CES in Las Vegas last week, UK incumbent telco, BT, and Microsoft announced a partnership that, starting in mid-2008, will allow BT broadband customers who also own Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming consoles to access BT's Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV service, BT Vision, through the Xbox 360. Existing BT Vision customers, who currently access the service through a proprietary hybrid (DTT/IP) set-top box, will now have the option of also accessing it (minus Freeview DTT channels) through the Microsoft gaming console.

According to the companies, BT Vision on Xbox will "combine the richness of the Microsoft Mediaroom-enabled TV service, with the benefits of next-generation gaming, as well as unique new capabilities that the integrated solution brings." Among other things, the partnership will see Microsoft's Xbox Live service, which combines on-demand programming content with social TV features, integrated with the BT Vision experience: the companies say that this integration will allow BT customers to access such features as voice chat, the ability to send and receive voice messages, and the ability to access the Xbox Live Marketplace and play Xbox games, all while watching TV. "We are pleased to partner with Microsoft to deliver a truly compelling connected entertainment experience to our customers," BT Vision CEO, Dan Marks, said in a prepared statement. "For the first time, consumers in the UK will be able to experience the advantages of an advanced TV service together with the benefits of next-generation gaming. Our aim is to provide BT Vision on multiple platforms--giving customers greater convenience, control and flexibility over what they watch, when they watch and how they watch TV. It also means that we are able to potentially expand our BT Vision customer base by tapping into the popularity of Xbox 360." (Note: uptake of the BT Vision service has been somewhat anemic to date: it is believed to have attracted only around 100,000 customers since launching in late 2006.)

In other BT news:

• The company has chosen Motorola as the lead supplier of the next-generation of set-top boxes for the BT Vision IPTV service (note: the current generation of BT Vision set-tops is supplied by Philips, which is exiting the set-top business--see article in this issue). According to BT, the new Motorola version of the BT Vision V-box will be HD-capable; will sport a new look; will be more energy-efficient; will provide access to up to 40 Freeview TV channels and 30 radio channels; and will allow end-users to record an average of 80 hours of content. "Motorola has extensive experience in IPTV and particularly in working with our platform partner, Microsoft, on deployments of Microsoft Mediaroom around the world," BT Vision's Dan Marks said in a prepared statement. "Today's announcement will lead to the development of a new set-top box to take full advantage of the increasing capabilities of the Microsoft Mediaroom platform and of the most recent advances in chipset technology. This underpins our medium-term goal of securing 2-3 million customers for BT Vision."
• The company has begun a trial of a service that allows users of its BT Vision Download Store (note: for more on the latter--which is not to be confused with the BT Vision IPTV service) to download movies for free, in exchange for watching targeted advertisements. The three-month trial--which began at the end of November and which sees BT collaborating with Hiro Media, Intel and FremantleMedia--offers consumers three free films, "Mischief Night," "Played" and "The Punk Rock Movie." In order to view the films, consumers must first download free video software from Hiro Media, a developer of ad-supported video-download technology, and are then asked to provide what BT terms "anonymous demographic information," that will allow the software to dynamically select commercials that are suited to the answers they provide. Once they download one of the movies, it will be available to them for a month, and will present them with different ads at each viewing, during commercial breaks at various junctures in the movie. The trial also allows consumers to send the films they download to their friends via email, to be viewed on the same terms. Advertisers that are participating in the trial (via digital advertising agency, isobar) include the AA, Norwich Union and the Territorial Army. "This will be a fascinating trial: the concept of targeted TV advertisements is now a reality through the combined technology behind BT Vision Download Store and Hiro's software solution," Antony Carbonari, BT Vision's interactive and commercial media director, said in a prepared statement. "We believe that sympathetically placed, targeted advertising, combined with a viral film-sharing capability, will be attractive to many customers in conjunction with free or reduced content prices."
• The company has signed a new deal with Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment that will make around 150 Paramount-distributed films available on the BT Vision Download Store. Titles covered by the deal include "Babel," "An Inconvenient Truth," and the "Star Trek" movie series.
• Via its relationship with BBC Worldwide, the company is offering "FIFA: More than a Game," a high-profile, six-part documentary series on the history of World Cup soccer, on the BT Vision IPTV service.
• The company is now offering the BT Vision IPTV service on a self-install basis. It is still charging customers who self-install a one-off £30 "connection fee," but it points out that customers will save £60 by avoiding the need for an engineer to visit their premises. The self-install option, which BT says is available in over 1,000 retail stores around the UK (including Comet, Currys.digital and John Lewis), includes a pair of Comtrend Powerline Adaptors, which plug into electrical outlets and carry the video signal from the BT Home Hub to the BT V-box across a home's power circuit. The equipment needed to self-install BT Vision is delivered directly to the customer via courier. According to BT, installing BT Vision should take the end-user less than an hour.
• The company has launched an interactive TV magazine--dubbed "On Vision" and accessed from the EPG--for users of the BT Vision IPTV service. Designed by BT itself, and produced and hosted by Irish interactive TV company, emuse, the new magazine is billed as the first application to run on the Microsoft Mediaroom Tasman TV browser (note: BT promises that "many interactive browser applications" will launch on BT Vision over the next year). emuse's involvement in the project stems from a deal it signed last year that sees it powering interactive advertising and sponsorship on the BT Vision IPTV service. The magazine highlights various content offerings on BT Vision, and provides information on "how to get the very best" out of the service. Its content includes sneak previews and competitions. It is created by BT Vision's existing online editorial team, which represents a partnership of creative teams from customer publishing agencies, Future Plus and Zone: Future Plus is responsible for the magazine's entertainment content and Zone for its sports content. "We are delighted to be working with emuse and to be the first to launch an interactive application that utilizes the Microsoft Mediaroom Tasman browser," BT Vision's Dan Marks, said in a prepared statement. "Interactive services will form an increasingly important part of the BT Vision offering in 2008 and the Tasman browser represents an important first milestone in our planned roadmap to launch market-leading interactive services."

TiVo Extends "Season Pass" Functionality to Web Video

--Signs New Broadband Content, Advertising and Research Deals
--Deals Include Multi-Year ITV Advertising/Research Partnership with NBC
--Company Receives Good News in "Time Warp" Patent Case
--Launches New Research Product, PowerWatch
--TiVo Boxes Now in Retail in Canada, TiVo Service Launched by Comcast

At CES in Las Vegas last week, DVR vendor/service provider, TiVo, announced that it is planning to extend its platform's "Season Pass" functionality (allows end-users to record all episodes of a show automatically), so as to allow its subscribers to access Web video and watch it on their livingroom television sets. The new functionality takes advantage of the increasing amount of broadband video content available through RSS feeds: broadband video content currently available through RSS includes nightly network newscasts; vignettes and longer-form content from cable channels such as Comedy Central or Discovery; niche-interest and hobbyist videos (which, TiVo points out, cover "areas far more specialized than cable and satellite channels" can cover); and new, independently produced content, such as that offered by DiggNation and Ask a Ninja. TiVo is touting its platform's new functionality as "elevat[ing] Web video" by "making it easily available as part of the personalized and customized TV viewing experience that TiVo provides." "By adding the Season Pass functionality to Web video viewing, we are providing consumers a new way to easily and automatically access the content they want to watch on their television sets," TiVo president and CEO, Tom Rogers, said in a prepared statement. "TiVo is building toward the dream of providing one stop for all content, through one box, integrated into one interface, accessible through one simple remote control. With TiVo providing this Web video feature, along with 20,000 Amazon titles, millions of songs, thousands of music videos, and an enormous collection of photos, we have already gone a long way toward building out the dream."

According to TiVo, subscribers who take advantage of its platform's new functionality will see their Web video selections entered automatically in their "Now Playing" list, alongside their recorded TV shows. The company is also providing an on-screen guide of select Web video sources for subscribers to browse and select Season Pass recordings from. The new functionality additionally gives subscribers the option of setting up a Season Pass recording of their own personal video folders on their PC (i.e. the folders in which they save their home movies and video downloads). According to TiVo, its HD-enabled boxes will preserve the original quality of high-resolution Web videos. The new functionality requires subscribers to purchase TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6, a version of a Windows application that was originally developed to convert recorded TV shows for viewing on portable devices such as the Apple iPod and the Sony PlayStation. Slated for availability in March, Desktop Plus 2.6 will be priced at $24.95, though customers who have an earlier version of Desktop Plus will be offered a free upgrade. In a prepared statement, TiVo's VP of content services, Tara Maitra, touted the new functionality as providing consumers with an antidote to the ongoing WGA strike: "Now that TiVo has made retrieving Web content easier than ever by integrating it with the popular Season Pass technology, consumers can enjoy great Web video as if it's a whole new set of TV program options. And, if the writers' strike goes on, these options on the TV set may become more important to many viewers even more quickly."

In other TiVo news:

• During an address at CES last week, Comcast chairman and CEO, Brian Roberts, announced that the cable MSO has begun deploying TiVo service on its New England networks and plans to roll it out in additional markets (though the timeline of that roll-out remains unclear).
• The company has signed a deal with multiplatform music programmer, Music Choice, under which the latter is making available its catalog of several thousand music videos, as well as original programming and daily entertainment news clips, on broadband-connected TiVo DVR's, as part of TiVo's broadband content service, TiVoCast. Close to a thousand video titles were available on Music Choice's TiVoCast service when it launched, and the companies say that that number will grow significantly in the coming weeks. Like all the other content on TiVoCast, Music Choice is offered at no additional charge as part of TiVo's monthly service fee, and is accessed through the TiVo Central interface. "Be it music, movies or memories, our broadband strategy continues to focus on delivering consumers what they want, when they want it," TiVo's Tara Maitra said in a prepared statement. "By bringing TiVo users Music Choice, we're giving our subscribers access to the most extensive music offering available, delivering thousands of music videos straight to the TV. We think this service will be extremely popular among the TiVo audience."
• The company is partnering with two online photo services, Photobucket and Picasa Web Albums from Google, to enable TiVo customers with broadband-connected boxes to view and share their digital photos directly on the TV set. Those customers will now be able to use the TiVo interface to access their own photos as well as photos shared by TiVo-equipped family and friends. According to TiVo, photos will be displayed in the highest resolution supported by each of its broadband-connected boxes, meaning that TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD users will be able to view them in HD. "Personal media sharing is clearly moving beyond the desktop," Photobucket president, Alex Welch, said in a prepared statement. "Photobucket helps its users creatively express themselves and share their lives with friends and family. Be it through cell phones, computers or TV's, we aim to offer our users the best service for searching, uploading and sharing this content. TiVo gives our audience an excellent way to bring Photobucket into their living rooms." According to TiVo, subscribers will be able to customize their photo-viewing capabilities by searching "community photos of interest" by keyword, using the TiVo search interface. Thus, for example, the company says, sports fans will be able to create a custom slideshow of their favorite team, or dog lovers will be able to "enjoy a slideshow composed of literally hundreds of puppy photos from around the world." TiVo's new photo sharing service is accessed through the "Music, Photos, Products & More" screen of the TiVo interface, and is offered at no additional charge as part of the TiVo monthly service fee.
• The company says that the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has confirmed the validity of the so-called TiVo "Time Warp" patent, which had been challenged by US satellite-TV provider (and DVR vendor), EchoStar. "We are extremely pleased that the PTO has now found all claims of the Time Warp patent to be valid after conducting a re-examination of the patent requested by EchoStar," a statement issued by TiVo read. "This decision by the PTO is final and not appealable by EchoStar. Today's decision by the PTO brings us another step closer to ending EchoStar's continued infringement and we are hopeful that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will uphold the district court judgment of patent infringement and reinstate the injunction." The patent dispute between TiVo and EchoStar dates back to 2004, when TiVo sued EchoStar, alleging that it was violating its US patent, #6,233,389 (i.e. the "Time Warp" patent), which was granted to the company in May, 2001. The patent describes methods for recording one program while playing back another, and for watching a show as it is recording, as well as a storage format that supports "trick-play" capabilities, such as pause-live-TV, fast-forward, rewind, instant replays, and slow motion. In 2006, TiVo was awarded $89.6 million in damages, a judgment that is now being appealed by EchoStar. An injunction against EchoStar selling DVR's that infringed upon the patent was also part of that judgment, but was subsequently stayed.
• The company says that it has signed a "comprehensive audience research agreement" with international media-buying/marketing communications company, Carat. According to TiVo, Carat plans to use its research services in order to help its clients better understand "the most urgent issue facing advertisers today": the impact of DVR's on the viewing of commercials. The deal also calls for the companies to collaborate on educating Carat clients on ways to use TiVo's own advertising solutions in order to "reach the fast-forwarding viewer." Among other things, the deal will allow Carat to use TiVo's StopWatch ratings service, enabling it to analyze the behavior of an anonymous sample of 20,000 TiVo households on a second-by-second basis. According to TiVo, StopWatch data is offered in an easily sortable database, designed to track the specific viewership for national programs and advertisements in both a live and a time-shifted viewing context. As a StopWatch subscriber, Carat will also have access to TiVo's newest research offering, its PowerWatch Consumer Panel (see below). The latter will provide Carat with access to demographic and viewing behavior for 20,000 TiVo households that opted to take part in the panel. The PowerWatch service provides program and commercial ratings reports sorted by standard aggregate demographic dimensions, and also allows clients to survey panelists, in order to create custom segments for their brand. "TiVo data adds a critical element to understanding what is really going on in DVR homes," Carat CEO, Sarah Fay, said in a prepared statement. "Having recently integrated our traditional and digital marketing capabilities, we were impressed with the depth and breadth of TiVo's audience research services. This model for aggregating television audience viewing patterns complemented our vision for the future of marketing communications. TiVo's StopWatch and PowerWatch services bring the accountability and measurability associated with the Internet to the largest form of media--television. With such a granular level of viewer behavioral research our fingertips, we can gauge the effectiveness of clients' marketing campaigns with a high level of detail and accuracy."
• The company has signed a deal with Germany's Nero to integrate its DVR's user interface with the next generation of the latter's PC software. The companies say the deal will see Nero developing a software solution that will bring a number of TiVo interface features to the PC and that will be targeted at the emerging PC TV tuner market (note: according to a recent report by In-Stat, 50.8 million PC TV tuners will be sold worldwide by 2011). "This agreement provides TiVo with an opportunity to deliver its interface and differentiated feature set globally via the PC, enabling TiVo to use all avenues of mass distribution--from consumer electronics, to cable and satellite boxes and soon, the PC," TiVo's Tom Rogers said in a prepared statement. "We are thrilled to work with Nero, a highly successful leader in software solutions for the PC who has the ability to develop a state-of-the-art program centered on the TiVo platform that will bring the same personalized entertainment experience to domestic and international consumers on their personal computers." Added Nero CEO, Richard Lesser: "The partnership with TiVo extends the TV experience for the connected digital home, enabling easy access anytime, anywhere to the most extensive TV content,"
• The company has signed a multi-year strategic partnership with NBC Universal that will see it providing the broadcaster with interactive TV advertising/promotion and audience research services. Under the terms of the agreement, NBC Universal's 14 TV networks and 10 owned-and-operated TV stations will be able to sell TiVo Interactive Tags in combination with other NBC advertising products, and will also subscribe to TiVo's StopWatch second-by-second commercial ratings service (note: NBC Universal is the first broadcast network operator to subscribe to the service, most of whose clients to date have been advertising agencies). TiVo Interactive Tags allow TiVo subscribers, when viewing a commercial, to click on an icon that takes them to a dedicated advertiser location on their DVR's hard drive, where they can find more information about an advertised product. The channel they were watching is paused as they explore the DAL, so that, when finished, they can return to the exact place they exited viewing. TiVo touts its Tags as also providing advertisers with an effective way to reach time-shifted/fast-forwarding viewers, and as providing deeper engagement by enabling opt-in requests for more information. In addition, the Tags will allow NBC to offer advertisers that use them detailed reports on their campaigns. According to the companies, their new partnership will also see them collaborating on the development of new advertising products and sharing revenues "wherever appropriate." "With proliferating media options and changing consumer behavior, our clients are asking for new ideas, better metrics, and more accountability," Mike Pilot, NBC Universal's president of sales and marketing, said in a prepared statement. "Our partnership with TiVo is another example of NBCU's continuing effort to improve the effectiveness of TV advertising for our clients, evolve the commercial form, and expand the value of our advertising inventory. We've made a commitment to our advertisers to offer them better proof of performance and to help ensure their marketing messages resonate in today's media environment. This partnership allows us to provide clients with products and solutions to help them analyze, understand and adapt to the new ways consumers are watching television." The deal will also see NBC Universal using TiVo's Record Tags in order to promote its own programming: the Record Tags allow one-click recording whenever a promotional spot is aired for a show. According to the companies, their partnership was "driven by the industry's conversion to the C+3 currency, which captures time-shifted viewing as part of the currency of the sale."
• The company has begun selling its DVR's in retail stores in Canada. Since early December (i.e. in time for the Christmas shopping season), the 80-hour, standard-definition TiVo Series2 Dual Tuner DVR has been available in Canada in such stores as Best Buy, The Brick, London Drug and Future Shop for CDN$199 (plus subscription)--though not yet in Quebec. "We've received overwhelming demand from Canadian consumers who want access to TiVo's innovative products and services and we are extremely excited to be able to deliver our highly successful TiVo Series2 Dual Tuner DVR to this key strategic marketplace--just in time for the holidays," Joshua Danovitz, TiVo's VP and general manager of international, said in a prepared statement. "TiVo's move into Canada represents a natural, important progression for our business as we continue to make sustained progress across international markets."
• The company is set to benefit from a new external adapter that was developed through discussions between cable operators, cable-industry R&D organization CableLabs, and various vendors to the cable industry (including TiVo itself). The adapter will allow TiVo DVR's (and various products from other vendors) that use CableCARDs to access switched digital cable channels without a set-top box (note: switched digital broadcast allows cable operators to transmit channels to customers on an as-needed basis, thus saving bandwidth that can then be used for interactive TV services, HD channels, broadband Internet connectivity, and digital phone services; for more on switched digital broadcast and the new adapter, see article on CableLabs in this issue). It will work on any Unidirectional Digital Cable Product (UDCP) that has a USB connector and the necessary firmware, and will thus be compatible with TiVo's high-end Series3 HD DVR and the company's entry-level HD DVR, the simply branded TiVo HD DVR. According to TiVo, it is working with the cable industry to ensure that the installation of CableCARDs and the new adapters on its products will be "easy and seamless" for end-users. The adapters are expected to be available to TiVo customers in the second quarter, and TiVo says that it will collaborate with cable operators to alert its customers to the availability of the adapters.
• The company has launched a new service, dubbed the PowerWatch Consumer Panel, that is designed to provide advertisers with access to demographic and viewing-behavior data from an opt-in sample of 20,000 households. Media agency, Starcom, which was also the first company to sign up for TiVo's StopWatch ratings service, has signed on as the first client of the new service. Because PowerWatch's 20,000 households have volunteered to take part in the panel, TiVo says it will be able to associate household data with viewership data, and will therefore be able to produce program and commercial viewership reports that can be analyzed by aggregate demographic and behavioral audience groups. The company says that all data will remain completely anonymous. "The PowerWatch Consumer Panel is a landmark step in gaining deeper insights into audience behavior in the growing world of DVR-based television consumption and how best to earn the attention of consumers in a time-shifted world," Starcom USA SVP and video innovation director, Tracey Scheppach, said in a prepared statement. "TiVo's data is unique in terms of what is available in the market today and we will finally be able to answer important questions about viewer composition and viewing patterns over time." According to TiVo, with the launch of the PowerWatch Consumer Panel, customers of its StopWatch ratings service will be able to purchase custom segmentations to look at TV viewing, based on how consumers have responded to their proprietary sponsored questions. TiVo says it will be conducting a quarterly "omnibus" survey of PowerWatch panelists: while Starcom will have exclusive access to the first study, TiVo says that all StopWatch clients will be able to participate in these surveys with their own sets of questions. The PowerWatch Consumer Panel will also include what TiVo describes as "more TiVo-centric" measures, such as number of TiVo's in a household, tenure of TiVo subscriber, and broadband vs. dial-up connectivity; it will also include information on the type of signal being received by panel participants (i.e. analog cable, digital cable, satellite or terrestrial).
• The company has signed a deal with Little Rock-based broadband service provider, Windstream, that will see the latter bundling TiVo DVR service with its broadband Internet and TV offerings (note: Windstream's TV offering is provided via a partnership with EchoStar's DISH Network). According to the companies--which have not yet disclosed the pricing of the bundle--Windstream will begin marketing TiVo in the first half of this year. "Teaming up with Windstream to combine high-speed Internet and DVR into one convenient bundle unlocks a truly unique entertainment and communications experience for consumers," Naveen Chopra, TiVo's VP of corporate development, said in a prepared statement. "We are pleased to join forces with Windstream, a provider of voice, broadband, and video services who wields a proven ability to market bundled services in conjunction with its core wireline service to over three million subscribers."
• The company has elected Thomas Wolzien to its board of directors (note: eight of the nine slots on the company's board are currently held by independent, outside directors). Wolzien, 60, is currently president of Wolzien, LLC, which he founded in 2005 and which provides consulting services to media and communications companies; prior to that, he was a senior sell-side media analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.; and prior to that, he worked at NBC, eventually rising to SVP of cable and business development. According to TiVo, he holds multiple patents for "inventions linking mass media and the Web."

Aptiv Digital Launches New Versions of its EPG's, New EPG Applications

Aptiv Digital--an EPG developer which was founded in 1996 as Pioneer Digital Technologies, and which was then spun-off from Pioneer in 2005 by its management team, and which was acquired by Gemstar-TV Guide last March (note: its products have been deployed by such operators as RCN, Bright House and Cox, and include the Passport, Passport DCT and Passport Echo EPG's, all of which run on both Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta platforms)--says that it has launched new versions of its Passport DCT and Passport Echo EPG's, together with a new suite of applications designed to work with those EPG's.

The new applications are:

• Venue, which Aptiv describes as providing "the flexibility to create a customized, menu-driven guidance solution that seamlessly links to revenue-generating and other premium services." The app can be combined with Aptiv's ShowRunner VOD application to create "media-rich on-demand applications where subscribers can dive into information about local real estate, new cars and exotic vacations," the company says.
• Harvest, an aggregate data collection tool which provides MSO's with anonymous viewership statistics and EPG usage logs and which Aptiv says will allow them to make programming and advertising decisions based on real-time data. It provides a basic daily report, generated from a collection of logs, as well as daily raw database files for advanced data mining, the company says.
• BillView, which allows subscribers to access their billing information via the TV, while simultaneously promoting an operator's bundled packages. According to Aptiv, the data-configurable app prominently displays the discount and net savings the subscriber receives from purchasing bundled packages, in order to reinforce his/her purchase decision and reduce calls about statement increases.
• Caller ID, a TV-based caller-ID application that Aptiv says includes protocols that are compatible with any telephony backend solution. When the phone rings, the app displays a banner at the bottom of the screen, containing the caller's phone number and possibly his or her name. The app allows viewers to display a call history for up to four phone lines by accessing preferences in a settings menu.
• FrontDoor, a server-based application management portal which Aptiv claims provides both scalability and customizability for regional application deployment: according to the company, the app lets operators customize application deployment on a region-by-region or headend-by-headend basis for their entire system from a central server. Aptiv says that the app's management console provides for the installation, configuration and removal or a range of interactive applications.

SyncTV Beta-Launches TV Download Service

--Presents "Proof-of-Concept" Device at CES

SyncTV, a subsidiary of Pioneer Research Center USA, recently began a private beta-launch of a new TV download service, which it says will offer "home-theater quality" TV shows on an unlimited download basis. The service, which SyncTV says is based on open standards, currently works on Windows, Macintosh and Linux PC's, and will eventually also work on TV's and portable media players, the company promises. Its program library is organized into channels--including one from premium programming provider, Showtime Networks. Once an end-user is subscribed to a particular channel, s/he can download any show offered by that channel; according to SyncTV, in many cases the service offers all the episodes of a show. Most channels will be available for a "small monthly fee," SyncTV says, though a minority of channels are making their content available only on a pay-per-download basis.

SyncTV claims that the video and audio quality of its new service's programming will be "the highest available through Internet download"--i.e., "comparable" to the same programming on DVD. The service also offers a range of HD content, and content in 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. End-users can play back shows on up to five home PC's or Macs, and, when the service is available on portable devices, SyncTV promises, end-users will be able to play back content on an additional 10 such devices. The company is touting its service as being based on an open platform: it says it will make its protocols and data formats available to developers, and is using an open-standards DRM system called Marlin.

At CES earlier this week, SyncTV demo'd a proof-of-concept hardware device that would play downloads from its service, including downloads in 1080p HD. According to the company the device "is one example of how SyncTV will be integrated into a variety of consumer electronics devices," including television sets, in-car video systems and other portable players. It says that its open-standards approach will make it easy for third-party hardware manufacturers to develop devices that are compatible with its service.

Maven Networks Launches New Advertising Platform

--Platform Enables New Interactive Ad Formats for Broadband Video
--Company Forms "Internet TV Advertising Forum"
--Signs New Deals with Scripps, Gannett

Maven Networks--a company which offers a software platform, dubbed the Maven Internet TV Platform (it was previously called the Maven Media System), that is designed to allow content providers and brand marketers to create interactive broadband VOD channels (its customers include 20th Century Fox, Gemstar-TV Guide, Univision, Virgin Records, General Motors, PepsiCo, and A&E Television Networks; it claims that its platform is used by over 500 "major media company affiliates")--has launched a new advertising platform. According to the company, the new platform, dubbed simply the Maven Internet TV Advertising Platform, increases video advertising inventory and revenue via new interactive ad formats, an intelligent and dynamic video ad insertion engine, and sophisticated video ad inventory-management tools.

Maven claims that the currently dominant online video advertising format, the so-called "pre-roll," presents several problems for the growth of online video: it is "disruptive and intrusive," the company says; lacks interactive capabilities; and requires frequency caps that lead to reduced ad inventory, even though demand for online video advertising is growing. Maven touts its new advertising platform as introducing a series of new, non-proprietary formats that are significantly more engaging that pre-roll ads, make for a better user experience, and deliver higher-value ad units for advertisers. The formats provide in-video interactivity via the use of transparent overlays and telescoping, and are intelligently placed within video streams to create new kinds of ad inventory, the company says. "As advertising dollars began shifting to Internet TV, the easy first step was to repurpose traditional broadcast TV ads rather than figure out how to combine the interactive capabilities of the new digital medium with the power of video," Maven founder and CEO, Hilmi Ozguc, said in a prepared statement. "The full potential of online video advertising will remain limited without the introduction of more effective ad formats and technologies that exponentially unlock new inventory. We're solving those issues with our new platform, which accelerates the adoption of the next generation of video advertising concepts and experiences."

At the core of Maven's new ad platform is a dynamic ad insertion engine, for which the company has applied for a patent. According to the company, the engine automatically determines optimal ad-viewing points within a video clip, using historical usage analytics (e.g. user viewing behavior and video popularity) and associated metadata (video length, topic, etc.), and thus enables the relevant ad to be delivered to the right viewer at the appropriate time. The platform also provides a cue point editor that allows the creation of pre-identified, manually placed insertion points within a video. Maven also touts the new platform as including advanced inventory-management and forecasting capabilities that allow for increased ad sales efficiencies. The company claims that these various components make for "an exponential increase in ad inventory within short- and long-form video."

In order to drive usage of its new advertising platform, and to encourage the development of ad formats beyond the pre-roll, Maven has formed an industry group dubbed the Internet TV Advertising Forum, whose goals, it says, are to "solve the challenges and deficiencies associated with current online video advertising models"; to define "next-generation online video advertising standards"; and to develop and standardize "effective online video advertising solutions that create engaging and appealing user experiences, as well as innovative and scalable monetization opportunities." The forum is composed of a range of Maven clients and partners, including Fox News Digital, Scripps Network, Ogilvy, Digitas, Gemstar-TV Guide, 4Kids TV, Microsoft, DoubleClick and 24/7 Real Media. Maven says that it will use the input of the forum members to create a "universally supported, third-party ad server-compatible online video advertising platform." "No single segment of the community has been able to successfully overcome the challenges posed by pre-roll video ads, the current dominant format," Ozguc said in a prepared statement. "Rather than build a proprietary solution in a vacuum, we wanted to bring together key members of each industry segment contributing to and benefiting from online video advertising to develop a comprehensive and effective outcome that works for all media companies, advertisers and consumers."

According to Maven, the new forum will meet regularly to carry out a number of planned projects. Those projects include research into and testing of new video ad formats and the development of technical capabilities that meet the individual needs of each market segment participating in the forum, the company says. It plans to make the results of the forum's research public.

To that effect, the forum recent announced the results of its first usability research program: the program introduced consumers to a series of new ad formats, based on Maven's new advertising platform, that incorporated in-video interactivity through the use of transparent overlays. According to Maven, the results of the Forum's research showed that consumers are indeed tuning out pre-roll video ads the same way that they tune out traditional television commercials. Respondents reacted more favorably to the new in-stream formats, the company says, indicating that those formats are significantly less disruptive to their viewing experience than traditional pre-roll ads. The company claims that the results also showed that consumers are willing to tolerate more frequent advertising, if the ads they are viewing are more engaging, interactive and relevant to the content they support. According to Maven, viewers "actively enjoyed" its new ad formats' "interactive capabilities, including requesting additional information, locating a store for the advertised product in their area, and even making a purchase--all without leaving the video player hosted by the media content provider." However, the company cautions, "while applauding the non-intrusiveness of the ads, many respondents did not initially realize that the new formats were, in fact, interactive." Therefore, it concludes, "advertisers selling products via ads and media content providers seeking to offer greater value to advertisers must develop ad creative that is engaging enough to entice the consumer to interact." Other key findings of the research include that consumers expect to see the same proportion of ads to programming online as they see on traditional television, and that brand recall for overlay ads is strong. According to Maven, the Forum's research program was based on a series of "usability lab" sessions that "tested common users from various age groups and professional backgrounds and were conducted during the week of October 22 in New York City. Respondents were paired and exposed to various ad formats from multiple advertisers per publisher," the company says.

In other Maven news:

• Scripps Networks (properties include HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Recipezaar, Fine Living and Great American Country) has tapped the company to power its broadband video offerings, and is also using its new video advertising platform. According to Maven, its Internet TV Platform will integrate with Scripps' existing content-management systems and will manage and distribute hundreds of hours of short- and long-form lifestyle video; the platform's syndication features will "speed" video feeds both to Scripps' own and third-party Web sites, and enable the broadcaster to offer a "multitude of customized players," Maven says. Scripps will also use Maven's new advertising platform to create new inventory and offer new interactive advertising overlay formats.
• Newspaper publisher, Gannett, has tapped the company to provide broadband video advertising and player solutions for its approximately 150 Web sites (including USAToday.com), which claim a collective reach of over 22 million visitors a month. According to Maven, its players--which will work in conjunction with thePlatform's backend management and syndication system (see article in this issue)--will allow Gannett to "feature video in more places and across multiple brands, without tasking IT network and staff resources." The company says that the players can be customized "in minutes" to reflect the look-and-feel of a Web site "or to showcase advertisements with vast color palates, skin options and more." In addition, Maven stresses, its platform offers an intelligent insertion engine that allows advertisers to leverage a range of ad formats for targeted audiences.

Backchannelmedia Unveils Solution Linking TV Advertising to the Internet

--Solution Lets Viewers Bookmark Product Info from TV Ads

Backchannelmedia--a Boston-based company which recently announced that it had received an investment of $3 million, bringing the total raised by its initial funding round (which has been underway for the past two years) to $9.5 million--announced last month that it has demonstrated a solution that allows a viewer watching a live or DVR-recorded show to use their remote control to "bookmark" or transfer information in ads or programming to a personal and customizable Internet homepage--without interrupting their viewing experience--and then order products featured in those ads or programming using their favorite ecommerce sites. The company describes the solution as using the Internet as a backend.

In a press release announcing the solution, Backchannelmedia explained how it might be used: "a viewer could see a popular recording artist perform on television and then through one click of their remote control could either bookmark the CD in Amazon or immediately download the song from a digital music site, thus capturing the value of the transaction for all parties to enjoy." The company says that the solution--which it has been developing for the past 10 years, and which it claims will be trialed by a "major market affiliate" in the second quarter--will allow advertisers to "know who is responding to their advertising dollars and broadcasts, precisely who is shopping from their Web sites, based on television exposure, and immediately improve upon campaigns, and link advertisers' traditional and digital advertising budgets forever."

Backchannelmedia claims that its solution was designed to work with "the vast majority" of ecommerce Web sites and broadband video portals, that it requires "minimal configuration of the technical environment for broadcast television stations and cable networks," and that it "can work with most television media-buying software already installed at thousands of advertising agencies and advertisers." The company has four patent applications pending for its solution, which it says was designed to leverage as much as possible existing technologies, such as the TV remote and broadcast and cable automation systems. It also claims that the solution ensures that "Internet design challenges such as click fraud, dead and irrelevant search links, copyright theft, spam, phishing and blind behavioral targeting will not cross over into the wireline and wireless digital television spectrum delivery platforms."

Chello Interactive in Interactive TV Deals with Turner, Channel 4, IDS

Turner Broadcasting has signed a deal with Liberty Media-subsidiary, Chello Interactive, that sees it using the latter's Mistral solution to power interactive TV services in Europe. According to Chello, Turner Broadcasting is using the solution to design, publish and manage ITV services for its Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Too and Boomerang channels on the Sky satellite platform in the UK, and for its Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels on the UPC cable platform in The Netherlands. Those services currently include a multiscreen mosaic that provides Cartoon Network viewers with a range of games and other enhanced content. "Interactive and enhanced TV works particularly well for Cartoon Network and our other children's entertainment channels in the UK," Ian McClelland, Turner Broadcasting's director of digital media for the EMEA region, said in a prepared statement. "We want to improve that offering to include robust and flexible scheduling, advanced interactive advertising options and the ability to launch and manage similar services in other European territories. Chello Interactive is the obvious choice to facilitate these requirements."

In other Chello Interactive news:

• UK commercial terrestrial broadcaster, Channel 4, has selected the company's Mistral software to create and publish interactive advertising on its channels on the Sky platform. According to Chello Interactive, the Mistral software was recently enhanced to incorporate a new range of advertising solutions for UK satellite and digital terrestrial platforms and for European cable platforms. The company--which says that these solutions offer media owners and advertisers "greater creative scope and a fast, cost-effective route to delivery"--claims that the software had been used to create over 50 interactive TV commercials as of last November. "This deal with Chellomedia gives us the opportunity to offer new services to our customers at attractive terms," Channel 4's commercial interactive manager, Carie Bolsover, said in a prepared statement. "We're optimistic this will help to further grow the interactive market."
• Interactive Digital Sales (IDS), the advertising solutions provider for UK cable operator/programmer, Virgin Media, is using the company's Mistral software for the creation and publication of templated interactive TV advertising on the Sky satellite platform. "Mistral is the only true multiplatform interactive advertising solution, and our new relationship with IDS reflects the mutual commitment of both companies to offer advertisers creative, effective and attractively priced services," Chello EVP, Noel Leslie, said in a prepared statement. Added IDS managing director, James Wildman: "We're delighted to extend our relationship with Chellomedia. This helps to take our interactive business forward by offering clients new functionality at attractive prices in conjunction with established, large scale suppliers."

Integra5 in Reseller Deal with Chile's ATI

Integra5, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based company that specializes in technologies for converged services, has signed a reseller deal with Chile-based American Telecommunication Holdings (ATI). The deal--which comes just a few months after Integra5 signed a deal with another Latin American reseller, Panama-based Solusoft (see [itvt] Issue 7.46)--will see ATI, a systems integrator specializing in telecommunications, distributing Integra5's i5 Converged Services Platform and the entire suite of applications that it enables, including TV- and PC-based caller ID, SMS-to-TV, TV- and PC-based customer care messaging, and TV-based voicemail. ATI has offices in 12 Latin American countries, as well as in Italy and Spain, and offers consulting, project management, integration and 24/7 support services to a roster of customers that includes Telefonica, Movistar, Telmex, America Movil and Milicom. According to Integra5, ATI has completed a "thorough analysis of market opportunities" for the i5 CSP, and is now "engaging in discussions" with operators in Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico. "Market conditions are ripe for the introduction of converged services into the areas we serve," Jorge Gana, ATI's VP of strategic planning and alliances, said in a prepared statement. "We are thrilled to partner with Integra5 to provide these innovative, value- added services to our service provider customers. As area operators continue to offer bundled services and invest in converged networks, we are poised to offer them a turnkey solution that reduces churn, boosts revenues and provides competitive differentiation." (Note: for an in-depth interview with Integra5 CEO, Meredith Flynn-Ripley, see [itvt] Issue 7.46.)

Waterfront Launches TV Telephony Solution

Waterfront, a Dundee, Scotland-based company best known for its interactive TV games, recently contacted [itvt] to let us know that it has developed a solution that allows digital television viewers to make and receive phone calls, using their TV. Dubbed simply TV Telephony, the new solution is targeted at broadcasters, production companies and advertisers that want to allow viewers to interact with their programs and campaigns. According to the company, it "offers a broad range of possibilities for utilizing voice calls over interactive television, from the development of new forms of game show, to creating new more direct and affordable alternatives to traditional freephone or local number calls for advertisers and brand owners." Broadcasters and advertisers will be able to use the solution to "create direct voice contact" with viewers, Waterfront says, and to allow services such as "ring me back" to be placed within TV shows and commercials. However, the company says that the solution could also be used to enable conference calls and inexpensive calls between viewers, "creating even more new possibilities for contact between viewers themselves." According to Waterfront, TV Telephony users simply press a button on their remote to trigger a call to their landline or mobile phone. "Voice over IP telephony has revolutionized communication on the Internet," Waterfront director, Stephen Swan, said in a prepared statement. "Millions of people all over the world now regularly use their broadband connection to talk to friends and family. TV Telephony brings this concept to a whole new audience and creates incredible new opportunities for broadcasters and advertisers. Now these organizations can talk directly to the consumer, at the touch of a button. It is the perfect alternative to the discredited TV show 'phone in' business. This enables advertisers and program makers to reconnect and build trust with their digital TV audiences. We're delighted to introduce such a powerful new service to the digital television market and we're looking forward to seeing what the creative minds in television and advertising can do with TV Telephony." The technology that underlies the TV Telephony solution is provided by ComXo, of which Waterfront's Swan is the non-executive chairman.

Orca Interactive Launches IPTV Content Discovery Solution

--Teams with Sagem, BitBand on Columbian IPTV Deployment

Israeli IPTV middleware and applications provider, Orca Interactive, has launched a content discovery solution for IPTV. Dubbed "Compass" and powered by customized recommendation engines, the new solution runs on Orca's RiGHTv IPTV middleware platform, and provides viewers with personalized recommendations, while allowing operators to promote premium and niche content, the company says. Orca bills the new solution as "transform[ing] the viewing experience into a fun, easy and interactive one, based on a seamless subscriber user interface featuring consistent language and visual cues."

According to Orca, Compass's customized viewing suggestions are derived from personal viewing habits, from user profiles and from content ratings enabled by both built-in and external recommendation engines. It is based on an open architecture, the company says, and features "efficient" management tools. Orca claims that it allows operators to separate on-demand and live content, is operable on multiple set-top boxes, and is accessible over multiple devices (i.e. set- tops, PC's and mobiles). "With all the live, on-demand and pre- recorded programming available, the main challenge that operators will face in the next couple of years is to provide the right content to the right viewers," Orca CEO, Haggai Barel, said in a prepared statement. "Unlike today's program guides and VOD listings, Compass offers quality--rather than quantity--in content choice. The only way operators and subscribers can benefit from the ever-increasing wealth of viewing content is by creating a proactive user experience that leverages the quality of recommendations and ease of navigation in lieu of the vastness of a catalog or an EPG. That's where Compass steps in, revolutionizing the TV experience by intuitively concocting the perfect content mix for each subscriber. Operators' pressing need for an effective solution for content discovery is clear. By providing them with a Compass to point subscribers in the right direction, Orca continues to drive the market towards the next generation of IPTV."

In other Orca Interactive news: the company has teamed with IPTV set- top box company, Sagem Communications, and video delivery solutions provider, BitBand, to provide an end-to-end IPTV solution for Columbian telco, UNE-EPM Telecomunicaciones. The companies have previously collaborated on IPTV deployments for France's Darty and Greece's On Telecoms. They claim their joint-solution enables a range of advanced TV services, including interactive TV, VOD, and the ability to pause and rewind live TV; allows for fast channel changes; and enables high-quality even on low-quality access lines. "The IPTV market is a ripe market which is ready for the introduction of innovative entertainment services, or expansion of existing offerings," BitBand CEO, Ervin Leibovici, said in a prepared statement. "We highly value our collaboration with Sagem Communications, a leading player in this market, and Orca Interactive, an innovation leader in the IPTV middleware market, and look forward to expanding our cooperation throughout Europe and beyond."

Alcatel-Lucent in Mobile Interactive TV Deal with Telstra

--Deploys Microsoft-Powered IPTV for Italy's Wind, UAE's du

French-American telecommunications equipment giant, Alcatel-Lucent, says that Australian incumbent telco, Telstra, has selected its mobile interactive TV platform to power a new, interactive TV-enabled mobile TV service, dubbed Telstra Mobile Foxtel. The service, which as its name suggests is based on a programming collaboration with Australian pay-TV company, Foxtel, offers 33 channels, organized into five genre packages, and is billed as being available on over 50 3G and Next G handsets. Among other things, it allows Foxtel customers with Foxtel's iQ DVR service to remotely record content on their home set-tops via an EPG on their handset. According to Alcatel-Lucent, future releases of Telstra Mobile Foxtel will allow end-users to personalize their service through the creation of play lists, and will also support interactive voting, alerts and commerce applications. "All around the world consumer demand for mobile TV is building," Hilary Mine, managing director of Alcatel-Lucent in Australasia, said in a prepared statement. "Today's mobile users want advanced services that let them download and play songs and videos, send text messages, conference with colleagues and friends, and exchange pictures or videos on whichever device they are using. Telstra's improved and world-leading mobile TV service offers this functionality for Australian consumers--and as such, Alcatel-Lucent is extremely proud to be working on such an exciting project." (Note: for more on Alcatel-Lucent's interactive TV plans, see [itvt]'s interview with Alcatel-Lucent's head of advertising and interactive, Stuart Waite, in Issue 7.48.)

In other Alcatel-Lucent news:

• The company says that Italian Telco, Wind, has launched a nationwide IPTV service based on Alcatel-Lucent technologies and the Mediaroom IPTV middleware platform of its partner, Microsoft. The service, dubbed Infostrada, is available to around 2 million households in its first phase, and offers such features as VOD, PVR and multiple picture-in-picture. Among other things, the Alcatel-Lucent/Microsoft IPTV solution incorporates Microsoft's Mediaroom platform, an IP/MPLS network infrastructure based on Alcatel-Lucent's 7750 Service Router, Alcatel-Lucent's IP Transformation Centers (IPTC's) resources (encompass network, service platforms and OSS/BSS systems), and the latter company's integration and implementation services. It is delivered over a Motorola 1616T hybrid digital terrestrial/IPTV set-top box. "Through its partnership with Wind, Alcatel-Lucent has gone far beyond the traditional equipment supplier role by implementing a business transformation project which converts a traditional fixed network into a full IP-based triple-play deployment to meet changing customer demand," Frederic Rose, Alcatel-Lucent's president for the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions, said in a prepared statement. "The successful delivery of advanced entertainment service by a leading European carrier such as Wind is a milestone for Alcatel-Lucent, enhancing our real-world experience in bringing IPTV and entertainment services to the market."
• The company has signed a frame agreement with du, an upstart telco in the United Arab Emirates, that will see it providing the latter with an integrated end-to-end IPTV solution, based on Microsoft Mediaroom, and on Alcatel-Lucent's own network infrastructure, services-fulfillment, OSS/BSS, subscriber-data management, and content asset management solutions. The new IPTV service--which represents the first deployment of Mediaroom in the Middle East--will feature both linear and on-demand TV in HD resolution, PVR functionality, and multiple picture-in-picture functionality. Alcatel-Lucent says that it will manage interdependent integration project streams from the network infrastructure and Microsoft platforms, subscriber database migration and OSS/BSS integration, and that it will also be charged with testing and validating the new service. "In our drive to innovatively use technology to offer more convenience and comfort to our customers, du collaborates with partners who share this vision," du CEO, Osman Sultan, said in a prepared statement. "In this instance, we wanted someone capable of designing, developing and deploying a complete IPTV solution, integrating all the different parts of the technical solution seamlessly. Alcatel-Lucent's unique end-to-end network integration capabilities support the Microsoft Mediaroom software platform while providing applications that help du create compelling services"

Ocean Blue Teams with Sunplus on Mobile Interactive TV System

--Ocean Blue in MHEG-5 Deal with Trident Microsystems
--Develops "Deep Hibernation" System to Reduce Standby Power Consumption

Bristol, UK-based digital TV software provider, Ocean Blue, said last week that it has partnered with silicon systems provider, Sunplus Technology Company, to develop a portable Freeview DVB-T platform with "full interactive features" (note: Freeview is the UK's free-to-air digital terrestrial platform; its interactive TV capability is based on the MHEG-5 standard). According to the companies, the new platform will provide red-button functions, such as text services and access to alternative video streams, on television sets receiving Freeview in, for example, cars and trains.

The companies' collaboration saw Ocean Blue porting its MHEG-5 software onto the latter's SPHE1002-series chipset, which is billed as having low power consumption and therefore enabling extended battery performance in mobile devices. The chipset, with both backend MPEG decode SPHE1002 and frontend Demodulator SPDC210, also features fast channel scan and good echo performance, the companies say. "We welcome the strategic alliance with Sunplus, to further increase the distribution of our products and expertise," Ocean Blue CEO, Ken Helps, said in a prepared statement. "The portable platform is particularly exciting, offering new ways to enjoy digital TV." Added CC Huang, chairman and CEO of Sunplus: "Ocean Blue's well-proven MHEG-5 software with Sunplus' cost-effective DVB-T turnkey solution offers a very competitive DVB-T solution for the UK market...The relationship between Sunplus and Ocean Blue is good for now and the future." The joint solution has been certified as compliant with the DTG MHEG-5 UK Profile Specification v.1.06, and is being offered by Sunplus in the UK and mainland European digital television and set-top box markets.

In other Ocean Blue news:

• The company has won a contract with Trident Microsystems to integrate its Voyager MHEG-5 software into the next generation of the latter's digital decoders and video processor chips, the HiDTV Pro LX and the SVP WX. According to Ocean Blue, this integration means that Trident-powered LCD TV's will conform to all DTG 1.06 MHEG test suites and meet the criteria for the UK Digital Tick standards. They will also be HD-ready and will support both 50Hz and 100Hz displays with the latest motion-compensation technology (enables a judder-free viewing experience), Ocean Blue says. The integration project apparently spanned Japan, the UK, Taiwan and the US. "We are delighted to have assisted Trident on this cross-country LCD TV development project," Ocean Blue's Helps said in a prepared statement. "Ocean Blue now supports all the leading chipsets and aims to be involved with the world's top-tier OEM's to help them deliver innovative products, quickly and easily."
• The company says that it has developed an intelligent "deep hibernation" system--dubbed Eco-TV and offered as part of its Sunrise digital TV software--that reduces standby power consumption for digital TV's and set-top boxes by switching off functions that are not required. While Freeview boxes consume on average 12 watts when in standby mode, Ocean Blue says, Eco-TV would quickly put those boxes into deep hibernation, cutting energy consumption by 70%. The company claims to be working with a number of electronics manufacturers to incorporate Eco-TV into future generations of chipsets and consumer electronics devices.

Motricity in Mobile Interactive TV Deal with Turner Broadcasting System

Mobile content services company, Motricity, has renewed its contract with Turner Broadcasting System. According to the companies, the renewal of their partnership is evidence of TBS's "aggressive plans" to provide interactive TV and brand extension services through the mobile channel. "Through our partnership with Motricity, we have the ability to interact in real time with our viewers and to connect with them directly to offer a more engaging programming experience," Tamara Franklin, VP of business development at TBS, said in a prepared statement. "Specifically for CNN, we have the ability to showcase the opinions of our viewers, receive questions from our audience, share poll results with guests and allow them the opportunity to respond in near real-time directly to our audience."

In other Motricity news: the company announced last month that it has secured $185 million in new funding, and that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of InfoSpace's mobile services business unit.

thePlatform in Deals with Gannett, HIT Entertainment, PBS KIDS Sprout

--Promotes Alex Glass and Marty Roberts

Comcast-owned white-label broadband video publishing company, thePlatform, has secured a number of new deals over the past few weeks (note: the company's clients include the BBC, CNBC, CBS College Sports TV, Court TV, Comcast, Hearst, Helio, Primedia, Scripps, Sony/BMG Music, Vongo, Telstra, and Verizon Wireless; it claims to manage "the entire logistics process that governs the publication of broadband video from the content owner to the consumer," and touts its technology as being integrated with vendors "that span the entire online video ecosystem," including providers of advertising campaign management and billing systems, content delivery networks, DRM, video player technologies and more):

• Gannett has tapped the company to provide the backend management system for publishing broadband video to its various Web sites, including USAToday.com. Under the terms of the deal, thePlatform will play the central aggregation role for Gannett's Web video assets, and also serve as the central distribution hub for syndicating video content among the company's sites. thePlatform also claims that its technology will make it easier and faster for Gannett to syndicate its video to third-party outlets. The Gannett deployment will see thePlatform's backend management and syndication system working in conjunction with players and advertising solutions from Maven Networks (see article in this issue). "Video is a popular part of all of Gannett's Web sites, and delivering increasingly strong-quality content is of the utmost importance to us as we expand and enhance our video offerings throughout our Web sites and across our digital properties," Jack Williams, president of Gannett Digital, said in a prepared statement. "We needed a centralized, scaleable, and easy-to-use video management system as we expand our offerings and tie our sites together into a cohesive network. thePlatform has a long history with initiatives of this magnitude, and we look forward to working with them to deliver ever more compelling multimedia experiences to our audiences."
• HIT Entertainment, a provider of programming targeted at preschoolers, has tapped the company to provide the backend video platform for its own Web channels and for the syndication of its programming to various Web sites in multiple countries. According to thePlatform, when HIT used its platform to launch video on its US-based "Thomas & Friends" Web site in late October, the site generated over 3 million streams in the first two weeks. The launch of video on HIT's other branded sites--which include sites devoted to such characters as "Angelina Ballerina," "Barney," "Bob the Builder" and "Fireman Sam"--is scheduled to continue through 2008. "We've worked closely to automate HIT's online video initiatives for both HIT-owned and third-party represented properties," thePlatform CEO, Ian Blaine, said in a prepared statement. "With a centralized system in place, HIT can focus their energies on their primary business of creating new and compelling family content."
• PBS KIDS Sprout, a children's programmer that is a joint venture between Comcast, HIT, PBS and Sesame Workshop, has tapped the company to provide the backend video platform for its Web site. The deal will see thePlatform managing the publication and delivery of clips to the site from such preschool shows as "Angelina Ballerina," "Barney and Friends," "Berenstain Bears," "Sesame Street" and "Teletubbies." "thePlatform's system allows us to bring the Sprout experience to the Web in an engaging and convenient way for parents and preschoolers," Eileen Diskin, VP of marketing at PBS KIDS Sprout, said in a prepared statement. "It gives our viewers the ability to access and watch clips from their favorite shows anytime, in a user-friendly way with a system that also streamlines business processes and allows us to quickly refresh content and grow our online presence."

In other thePlatform news: the company has promoted Alex Glass to VP of operations and Marty Roberts to VP of marketing. In his new role, Glass will be tasked with managing the entire lifecycle of the company's systems and networks and with improving the reliability and scalability of its services; Roberts, meanwhile, will lead the company's marketing team and its overall communications strategy, formulating messaging, launching new products and driving awareness of its brand. Glass previously served as thePlatform's solutions architect, as its director of customer service, and as its VP of client services. Prior to joining the company, he worked as a project manager and as a program manager at PVR company, Digeo. Roberts, who joined thePlatform in 2006 as director of marketing, previously worked at RealNetworks and GiftCertificates.com.

SinglePoint Tapped by NBC Universal for Mobile Interactive TV

--SinglePoint in Mobile ITV Deal with Blue Frog Media
--Claims to have Processed 35 Million ITV-Related Text Messages in Q3

Bellevue, Washington-based SinglePoint, which specializes in mobile-based interactive and participation TV, has been tapped by NBC Universal to provide mobile interactive TV services across a broad range of its programming and channels, including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, USA Network, NBC Sports, and NBC News (note: the deal will also see SinglePoint providing messaging services for iVillage and for Universal theme parks). Under the terms of the companies' deal, SinglePoint will implement such services as mobile voting, sweepstakes, contests, "breaking news" text alerts, and the delivery of personalization content. The deal calls for it to provide NBC Universal with end-to-end mobile campaign management, including application development and implementation, hosting services, new product development, and real-time reporting. SinglePoint, which was selected by NBC Universal via a competitive bidding process, claims that the deal is the single largest interactive TV deal of its kind to date in the mobile marketing space. "In today's competitive TV environment, we constantly evaluate how new technologies can better engage viewers and, ultimately, build stronger relationships with them," Jon Dakss, NBC Universal's VP of technology product development, said in a prepared statement. "SinglePoint stands apart in the increasingly critical mobile segment, thanks to their ability to manage the entire participation media process--from connectivity to carrier relations to client services. Working with SinglePoint will allow us to strengthen our market leadership, as well as win and maintain the loyalty of our viewers."

The new deal builds on an existing relationship between NBC Universal and SinglePoint: the latter has previously conducted a number of mobile messaging campaigns for the broadcaster, including mobile contests around the Kentucky Derby; a $5-million mobile sweepstakes around SciFi's "The Lost Room"; live voting on the Bravo reality show, "Shear Genius"; and various "Today" show events. SinglePoint claims to provide a tested, scalable infrastructure that has received high-capacity certification from a number of tier-one wireless carriers. (Note: for more on the NBC Universal-SinglePoint mobile interactive TV deal, see [itvt]'s in-depth coverage in Issue 7.52.)

In other SinglePoint news:

• The company has been chosen by Blue Frog Media (BFM) to provide wireless connectivity for its"TXTV" (i.e. text-to-TV) channel, NOYZ, and for its television overlay service, Impulse. NOYZ, which BFM launched in August, 2006, features music programming, interactive dating and a range of interactive games, polls and trivia contests. The Impulse overlay service, meanwhile, was recently launched on LATV Network's 14 stations across the US (see article in this issue). All BFM's channels and services target the 13-30 demographic. According to SinglePoint--which says that the deal will see it serving as BFM's "trusted representative" to the tier-one wireless carriers, and providing the message aggregation services required for the high-volume nature of BFM's ITV services and promotional campaigns--BFM has become one of the first providers of promotional digital content to have shortcode briefs approved across all tier-one wireless providers. "SinglePoint is extremely pleased to be partnering with Blue Frog, one of the top creators of promotionally driven TXTV channels and overlay services," SinglePoint president and CEO, Rich Begert, said in a prepared statement. "We expect Blue Frog's innovative ITV experiences will see tremendous success. SinglePoint's platforms, leveraging a decade of mobile messaging experience, are tuned to scale to the unique needs of spikey ITV messaging traffic. Combined with our industry-leading connectivity, the SinglePoint ITV solution will ensure participants of Blue Frog's ITV portfolio an unparalleled experience."
• The company has appointed Philippe Poutonnet as director of marketing. Poutonnet was previously a senior product marketing manager and strategic analyst at Qpass (acquired by Amdocs in 2006); prior to that, he led Jupiter Research's European wireless service business, analyzing the impact of wireless technology on traditional media; and prior to that, he worked as a business analyst at Global One Communications. He is a graduate of the School of Management of the Institut Superieur du Commerce de Paris. According to SinglePoint, Poutonnet's work as a researcher and analyst has led to him being quoted in such publications as The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal Europe and Le Figaro.
• The company claims to have processed 35 million mobile text-based interactive TV transactions in the third quarter, on the AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless networks, making it the leading provider of SMS-based ITV in North America. According to Nielsen Mobile's Premium SMS Report, which was published October 31st, a total of over 52 million ITV-related SMS transactions took place in North America during that quarter, meaning that SinglePoint enjoyed a 67% market share. "By powering the overwhelming majority of mobile interactivity on North American television today, we are committed to expanding our mobile message services to better engage viewers with their favorite entertainment properties," SinglePoint's Begert said in a prepared statement. "With this expansion, we will continue to drive creative solutions and provide day-to-day support for our burgeoning interactive TV businesses." In order to support what it claims is the "continuous growth" of its business, SinglePoint recently opened satellite offices in the entertainment industry hubs of Los Angeles and New York City. The offices will house the company's business development and account teams responsible for interfacing with the entertainment industry.

SES Americom in IPTV Deals with Packet Vision, Amino, NDS, Harmonic, AT&T

--Launches IP-PRIME HD-4, Participates in OMVC's Mobile TV Trials

SES Americom has tapped UK-based targeted advertising specialist, Packet Vision, to enable the insertion of targeted local ads by telcos that are using its IP-PRIME service (note: the latter is a centralized, satellite-delivered, turnkey MPEG-4 IPTV solution that includes content, transport, headends and set-top boxes; it features around 275 standard- and around 20 high-definition channels, and is slated to offer VOD in the near future). According to SES Americom, Packet Vision's MPEG-4 IP-based advertising solution will allow operators using the IP-PRIME service to insert into their local avails ads for local and national companies that are specifically directed to selected groups of viewers, based on geographic locations or demographic profiles--much as the cable industry has done for a number of years now. "We engineered IP-PRIME to be an open and turnkey solution, giving telcos and other service providers everything required to deliver TV service and to maximize the other revenue-generating opportunities of TV, including local advertising," Bill Squadron, president of SES Americom's IP-PRIME division, said in a prepared statement. "Leveraging the open, standards-based nature of IP-PRIME, we can integrate Packet Vision's innovative targeted advertising solution to provide IP-PRIME customers with a tested solution for tapping the lucrative local ad opportunity." Added Packet Vision US general manager, Richard George: "Securing a relationship with IP-PRIME represents a significant step in the expansion of Packet Vision's reach to IPTV service providers, and is a logical next move as the company opens up further distribution channels in the USA and Canada."

According to Packet Vision, its targeted advertising solution--which is scheduled to be available to IP-PRIME customers in the first half of this year--is designed for easy deployment in those customers' headends and requires no changes to set-top boxes at the viewers' homes. The solution integrates the key technical elements required for local ad insertion, targeted advertising and interactive campaigns, the company says, incorporating a media server, an ad splicer, a playout router and a management system that are all housed in a single rack-mounted "pizza box"-style enclosure. The company is currently working with SES Americom at the latter's broadcast center in Vernon Valley, New Jersey, to ensure that its technologies are interoperable with the set-top boxes and other equipment used by IP-PRIME. It says that it plans to add new functionality to its solution that "leverages the flexibility of IP, the two-way nature of IPTV networks and the power of set-top boxes," and that in future the solution will "provide viewers with more personalized commercial breaks and a greater degree of interactivity."

In other SES Americom news:

1. The company has chosen an HD DVR solution for the IP-PRIME offering that integrates technologies from IP set-top box vendor, Amino, and IPTV/interactive TV/conditional access technology provider, NDS. The solution consists of an AmiNET530 set-top box powered by NDS's Metro software; the latter is an integrated middleware and conditional access solution that NDS bills as providing a "complete, end-to-end, turnkey" offering for telcos and other broadband operators. "We are delighted to work with NDS to provide the advanced AmiNET530 DVR set-top box to a high-profile customer such as SES Americom, which offers a very attractive business proposition to the IPTV market," Rick Sailor, VP of sales for the Americas at Amino, said in a prepared statement (note: for an in-depth interview with Sailor, see [itvt] Issue 7.57). Added Dov Rubin, general manager of NDS Americas: "In order to compete effectively, telcos must have a very strong DVR offering for their IPTV customers. With that in mind, we have built an H.264 DVR featuring our Metro middleware and combined it with high definition, providing IPTV leaders such as SES Americom with a powerful and competitive product for their subscribers." According to NDS and Amino, features offered by their integrated DVR solution include:
   • Metro's EPG/VOD menu application, which features a customizable and scalable viewing pane.
   • The ability to play, record, fast-forward or rewind DVR content, while maintaining the HD quality of a live feed.
   • Metro's open software interfaces and employment of international standards. NDS touts the platform as using the latest video codecs, integrated into HD decoder chips for bandwidth economy, and as employing standards-based content-protection technology that is compliant with DVB SimulCrypt interfaces and AES standard encryption, in order to facilitate interoperability with a wide range of hardware suppliers.
   • Various DVR-specific enhancements to the Metro interface, such as a set of menu options for managing video recordings and defining personalized DVR characteristics such as the viewing pane.
2. The company has tapped Harmonic, Inc. to develop a VOD solution for IP-PRIME, that will be based on Harmonic's StreamLiner 2000 video servers, its CLEARcut storage encoding solution, and its Ingest Gateway workflow. SES Americom plans to use the solution to enable IP-PRIME customers to offer both local and national VOD content. Harmonic's StreamLiner servers, which are based on off-the-shelf hardware from IBM and HP, ingest offline and real-time content, and then stream programs on-demand when requested by viewers. The company's Ingest Gateway is a workflow system for managing the ingest of offline assets, and is designed to be used in conjunction with Harmonic's CLEARcut storage encoding solution to facilitate the video processing needed prior to storage on the StreamLiner video server. According to Harmonic, its VOD platform supports such features as time-shifted TV, nPVR, barker channels and advertising insertion.
3. The company has launched IP-PRIME HD-4, a version of the IP-PRIME offering which is targeted at operators that are already offering television services using MPEG-2 technology and that want to upgrade to MPEG-4-based HDTV. It claims that HD-4 provides operators of MPEG-2 IPTV systems with the "quickest route" to providing HDTV over their existing networks, at a fraction of the cost of other HDTV options: a single-rack solution, HD-4 can deliver 32 HD channels within 60 days, the company promises, and can easily be scaled to add more HD programming. The HD-4 solution's equipment can also be fully utilized when the operator migrates to a full MPEG-4 service, SES Americom says. According to the company, without a solution like HD-4, most MPEG-2 operators cannot offer HDTV without first overhauling their networks to provide more bandwidth to subscribers' homes and spending at least a million dollars on new headend equipment. The HD-4 solution works by adding an MPEG-4 service layer on top of an existing MPEG-2 deployment that does not have enough bandwidth to allow delivery of HD signals. According to SES Americom, deploying HD-4 does not require any service interruption. As subscribers sign up for their operator's new HDTV service, the operator simply provides them with a new set-top box that decodes both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 signals: SES Americom says it is working with Entone and other vendors to facilitate the delivery of the HD-4 service. "SES Americom has heard from dozens of MPEG-2 system operators across the country who feel competitive pressure to change their infrastructures so they can offer HDTV," Walt Davis, SES Americom's IP-PRIME product manager, said in a prepared statement. "Some of these operators are smaller telcos that invested heavily in their MPEG-2 systems and cannot afford a wholesale change. Because HDTV is driving new subscribers, these systems are faced with either losing subscribers to competitors or investing money beyond their means. HD-4 solves this dilemma by giving these operators a third option which is not only faster and less expensive, but allows operators to continuously scale their HDTV offering with the growth in available HDTV programming."
4. The company has signed a deal with incumbent telco, AT&T, that will see it providing the latter's U-verse IPTV service with international programming via the IP-PRIME platform. The deal will also see it providing international programming for AT&T's broadband and wireless platforms. "The United States' ethnic population is a fast-growing and dynamic sector," Rob Thun, AT&T's SVP of programming, said in a prepared statement. "By securing additional international programming from IP-PRIME, we are reaffirming our commitment to meeting the diverse needs and interests of our growing subscriber base. The AT&T U-verse Internet Protocol platform allows us to deliver unparalleled consumer choice, and through agreements such as that with IP-PRIME, we can capitalize on these advantages to provide our customers with the best international programming across all three screens."
5. At CES last week, the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), an alliance of US commercial and public broadcasters committed to the development of mobile TV, announced that it plans to work with SES Americom and IP-PRIME to test two new mobile TV technologies in separate consumer trials that will take place this year. The two new technologies are 1) the MPH (stands for "Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld) platform, which was developed by LG Electronics and Harris Corp., and 2) the A-VSB platform, which was developed by Samsung Electronics and Rohde & Schwarz. According to the OMVC, both platforms have performed well in technical trials conducted by OMVC members; the focus of the new round of tests will be not only to carry out additional technical trials, but to test each mobile system with consumers, and to gain a better understanding of "consumer acceptance, behavior and preferences regarding potential mobile television services and performance criteria." According to the OMVC, several test markets will be jointly selected by itself and by the leaders of each set of trials. A sample of consumers will then be selected to receive video content on their mobile phones, personal media players and laptops: that content will include local and national programming, as well as interactive TV services. The consumers' usage of the content will be monitored to better understand their preferences, and the OMVC and its partners say that the data gathered by the trials will allow it and its partners to predict consumer usage patterns and system performance, in order to support the launch of mobile TV services in 2009. According to the OMVC, a number of its 800 member stations will be selected to provide the transmission infrastructure and local content for the trials in each market. SES Americom will provide the consumer trials with national content and with mobile broadcast network platform services (note: in 2007, SES Americom operated a 24-channel mobile TV trial in Las Vegas). In MPH trial markets, Harris Corp. will provide MPH in-band digital TV transmission equipment and LG Electronics will provide MPH consumer receiver devices. MPH, which is ATSC-compatible, was jointly developed by Harris, LG Electronics, and the latter's US research-and-development subsidiary, Zenith, with the goal of providing robust over-the-air DTV signals and data to mobile, pedestrian and handheld devices. According to its developers, it builds on the Zenith-developed 8-VSB ATSC DTV standard, and, among other things, features an advanced channel coding system, dubbed "SCCC," which assures reliable reception of DTV signals on mobile and portable devices even under severe Doppler and multipath signal conditions. It can be used with LG's "time slicing" technology, in order to maximize battery life on portable MPH devices. CES saw the first public demos of a number of MPH-enabled LG mobile phones and portable navigators, as well as demos of prototype in-car MPH solutions from Kenwood. In A-VSB trial markets, meanwhile, Rohde & Schwarz will provide transmission equipment based on the A-VSB in-band mobile TV system and Samsung will provide A-VSB consumer devices. Other companies participating in the A-VSB trials include MobiTV and Nokia Siemens Networks, as well as SES Americom. A-VSB was developed by Samsung as a proposed open standard for mobile TV that broadcasters can implement at low cost. According to the OMVC, it builds on the current ATSC transmission standard to enable mobile TV reception, while preserving backward compatibility with current TV se