China - New satellite to beam more TV channels
January 21, 2006 - A new satellite capable of transmitting 300 TV channels is expected to bring information signals to more households when it is launched in 2007.
The China Great Wall Industry Corp and the China Satellite Communication Corp (ChinaSat) signed a contract in Beijing on Friday to place ChinaSat 6B into orbit atop a Chinese rocket, company executives announced on Friday.

Flextronics Software Systems launches mobile application for consumer market
January 20, 2006 - Flextronics Software Systems (FSS) today announced the launch of HipTV - a mobile TV solution, which marks the first step on the road to an IMS-based solution. Using DVB-H, the product will deliver mobile television direct to a mobile phone or handheld device such as a PDA - without the problems associated with video streaming.
In contrast to video streaming on GPRS/UMTS networks, HipTV on DVB-H delivers sharp images synched with clear sound but the real benefit is for network operators as it frees up bandwidth to the network. Increased bandwidth enables many more customers to access the service. In a World Cup year, this means that England football fans wanting to watch the match against Sweden can do so on the train - without worrying about an overloaded network cutting their connection.

Magnet Entertainment Delivers Ireland’s first Video-On-Demand service
January 20, 2006 - Magnet Entertainment has launched Ireland’s first Video-On-Demand service. Customers are able to select, download and watch television and movie content with the click of a button any time they want all from their front living room, effectively doing away with the need to go to their local video store.
The Video-On-Demand service is based on a streaming system whereby customers effectively have access to a remote DVD player that is simultaneously playing thousands of films and programs, where they can select the content and instantly view it. On top of that the viewer is also able to pause, rewind or fast forward through the programme.
The system is currently available to 100 customers in the Dunboyne Castle estate, one of Magnet Entertainment fibre-to-the-home developments, and will be available to all of Magnet’s triple-play customers at the end of the first quarter of 2006. 600 more homes and a hotel are currently being built in the Dunboyne Castle estate and all of the properties are being equipped with fibre-to-the-home technology.

Philippines - Banyantel to launch IPTV services next year
January 20, 2006 (DMasia) - Bayantel, a telco in the Philippines, is reportedly planning to launch internet-based broadcasting, or IPTV, services next year. A top company official reportedly confirmed that the telco will implement the Lopez Group's master plan for rollout of its proposed IPTV services across the country.

Bharti plans IPTV launch, UTStarcom the technology partner
January 19, 2006 (Indian Television) - Sunil Mittal has serious ambitions of entering the triple play arena. Having built a strong mobile phone business, he is quietly working on a project that would enable Bharti to offer video content through its telephone lines.

MaLigne TV launches its "Le Bouquet TV" package
January 19, 2006 - MaLigne TV, France Telecom's phone line-based digital television service, is expanding its offering to include new services, with the only complete digital television package available on the market.
Following on from the success of MaLigne TV, which now has over 200,000 subscribers for premium TPS, CanalSat and Canal+ packages, France Telecom is broadening its telephone outlet-based digital television service with the launch of its Bouquet TV package on February 1, offering a selection of free special-interest channels and seven exclusive events channels dedicated to the Turin Winter Games from February 10 onwards.
In this way, with Le Bouquet TV and its MPEG4-standard decoder, MaLigne TV is able to offer free access to a range of general and specialized channels as well as all the free channels available with Digital Terrestrial Television.

Motorola Announces Record Fourth-Quarter and Record Full-Year Sales and Earnings
January 19, 2006 - Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today reported record sales and earnings from continuing operations.
Connected Home Solutions Segment sales were $675 million, up 1 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Operating earnings were $60 million, compared with $43 million in the year-ago quarter. For the full year, sales increased 25 percent and operating earnings increased 27 percent. The segment extended its global footprint and expanded its technology platform to meet the exploding growth in advanced digital video, data and IP voice. During the quarter:
• Selected by VTR, Chile’s largest operator, for national launch of digital video platform
• Shipped the latest in digital set-top technology -- the QIP set-top family with built-in home media networking
• Shipped approximately 500,000 voice modems and approximately 1.4 million digital set-top boxes
• Announced a joint development collaboration with Juniper Networks and acquired advanced radio frequency technology from Broadband Innovations, strengthening the Company’s position in modular cable modem termination system technology for the delivery of advanced voice and data services

France - 1.73 million DTT receivers in the market
January 19, 2006 (DigiTAG) - According to recent reports made by the DTT association Groupement TNT, approximately 1.73 million DTT receivers have been sold or rented in 2005. In addition, it is estimated that more than 3 million set-top boxes will be sold in 2006.
GfK has estimated that 1.37 million receivers have been sold of which 1.1 million are set-top boxes, 100,000 are iDTVs and 170,000 are receivers for computers.

Deployment Plans Mark Europe as New Fiber-to-the-Home Hotspot
January 19, 2006 - Recent announcements by the cities of Amsterdam and Paris that they plan to deploy pilot fiber-to-the-home networks have been reinforced by a similar declaration two days ago from France Telecom. Deutsche Telekom had already indicated last year that it was making FTTH plans, and several big initiatives are under consideration in Spain.

Scientific-Atlanta Announces Second Quarter Results
January 19, 2006 - Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (NYSE:SFA) today reported second quarter sales of $495.2 million. Net income for the second quarter was $53.4 million, or $0.34 per share, compared with $58.7 million, or $0.38 per share, in last year’s second quarter, and compared with $60.7 million, or $0.39 per share, last quarter.
Subscriber product bookings were $431.6 million, up 21 percent from last year’s second quarter and up 34 percent from last quarter. Bookings of transmission products were $117.7 million, up slightly from last year but down 13 percent sequentially.
The year-to-year increase in sales of subscriber products was due to higher volumes of Explorer digital set-tops and WebSTAR™ cable modems and a continued mix shift toward higher-end set-top and modem products. Selling prices for almost all set-top models continued to decline in the quarter. In the second quarter, the company sold 1.152 million set-tops. In addition, Scientific-Atlanta sold 981 thousand WebSTAR cable modems, a record for any quarter.
Digital video recorder (DVR) shipments set a new record of 556 thousand units this quarter, increasing 24 percent from last year’s second quarter and 20 percent sequentially. Two hundred sixty thousand digital video recorders, or a little under half of the total, were high-definition units. Shipments of all high-definition set-tops, including DVR and non-DVR models, were 386 thousand units, an increase of 27 percent from last year and 7 percent sequentially.

MIPS Technologies Reports Second Quarter Fiscal 2006 Financial Results
January 19, 2006 - MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS), today reported financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2005. Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2006 increased by $4.4 million compared to the prior quarter ending September 30, 2005, the result of solid licensing activity and increases in royalties.
Following are selected press release headlines from MIPS Technologies, and the company's licensees, systems vendors and third party providers.
• Planetweb® to Bring SpectraWorks™ for Digital TV Applications to MIPS-Based™ TAEC TX49 RISC CPU Core Based ASSPs
• Zoran and Xoceco Establish Joint Technology Laboratory In China; Zoran's MIPS-Based™ SupraHD TV Controller Key Component in Xoceco's New Products to be Launched at CES 2006
• Zoran and Thomson Announce Low Cost Digital-to-Analog Solution To Support the Transition To Digital Broadcast; Design Utilizes Zoran's MIPS-Based™ SupraHD 640 digital television processor
• Sigma Designs to Work on Full-Featured Blu-ray Player with Pioneer; New Player Utilizes Sigma's Industry-Leading MIPS-Based™ SMP8630 Family of Media Processors
• Zoran Technology Breakthrough Delivers Entire DVD Recorder Capability on A Single System-On-A-Chip; MIPS-Based™ Activa 200 Now Sampling
• Cheertek Licenses MIPS32® 4KEc® Core for Next Generation Set-Top Box SoCs

Genesis Microchip Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2006 Earnings
January 19, 2006 - Genesis Microchip Inc. (Nasdaq: GNSS), a world leader in the development of image processing technologies for flat-panel TVs, monitors and other consumer display products, today announced its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2006, which ended December 31, 2005.
Flat-panel TV controller shipments reached a record 4.5 million units, up 5 percent from 4.3 million units in the prior quarter. LCD monitor controller shipments also reached a record 11.7 million units, a 2 percent sequential increase over the previous quarter. TV revenues grew to 60 percent of total revenue during the quarter.

Ireland - Plans on track for testing of free digital TV service
January 19, 2006 (Silicon Republic) - Testing of free digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Ireland is on course to begin later this year with news that the latest round of tenders to supply equipment for a pilot trial has now closed and the bids are currently being evaluated.

Analysys International Says Clear Business Model of China's P2P Streaming Market Will Take Shape in Two Years
January 19, 2006 - Analysys International, a leading Internet-based business information service provider, says that China's P2P Streaming market is growing fast to have 2.35 million streaming media users by end of 2005 and the business model will become clear by 2007 in its report China P2P Streaming Market 2005.
P2P Streaming media, represented by IPTV-2-PC, has grown rapidly since the market initiation in 2003. According to Analysys International's research, by the end of 2005, China's P2P Streaming media users had reached 2.35 million, increased 176% from the beginning of the year.
However, Analysys International says the rapid increase of user base hasn't brought clear profit model. After rapid user growth in 2004 and 2005, China's P2P Streaming market will enter the business model exploration phase from 2006 to 2007. As the business model evolves, it will gradually show more differences with traditional TV programs.

Sweden - Boxer grew by 42% in 2005
January 18, 2006 - As of 31st December 2005 Boxer had 531,000 digital TV subscribers, representing an increase of 156,000 or about 42% over the year. The last quarter of 2005 saw a 48,000 increase in subscribers.
In 2005 the Swedish transition to solely digital TV distribution was introduced on the terrestrial network in three areas: Gotland, Gävle and Motala. In 2006 the transition will take place in far bigger areas, and it will be completed in autumn 2007.

IPWireless Launches TDtv, the Mobile TV Solution That Delivers Broadcast Performance in Existing 3G Spectrum
January 18, 2006 - IPWireless today announced a new solution that allows mobile operators to leverage existing unpaired 3G spectrum to capitalize on the demand for mobile TV and other mobile multimedia. TDtv, which combines the performance advantages of IPWireless' commercial UMTS TD-CDMA solution and the newly defined 3GPP Release 6 Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard (MBMS), offers operators a number of significant strategic, performance, and economic advantages over alternative mobile TV solutions. Operators globally have already committed to pilot the TDtv solution in the first half of 2006.
TDtv operates in the universal unpaired 3G spectrum bands that are available across Europe and Asia at 1900MHz and 2010MHz. It allows UMTS operators to fully utilize their existing spectrum and base stations to offer subscribers attractive mobile TV and multimedia packages without impacting other voice and data 3G services. Several operators in Europe are expected to announce TDtv trials in their 1900MHz unpaired 3G spectrum during the first half of this year. In Japan, IPMobile plans to trial the technology for their services in their recently awarded 2010MHz spectrum. The solution will also be made available to operators in the other frequency bands that IPWireless supports globally, including the 2.5GHz band.

Seagate Technology Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2006 Results
January 18, 2006 - In the December quarter, Seagate shipped 3.5 million drives into consumer electronics (CE) applications, with 2.4 million of those units going into DVR applications, an increase of 93% from the year-ago quarter. With the transition in the gaming market now complete, Seagate expects significant growth in the gaming portion of the CE market in the March quarter.

Brazil Rules Out Use of U.S. Digital TV Standard, Estado Says
January 18, 2006 (Bloomberg) - Brazil is studying whether to adopt European or Japanese digital television standards in the country after studies ruled out the possibility of using U.S. technology, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported.

India - Prasar Bharati DTH to have 100 channels
January 18, 2006 (Chennai Online) - The number of television channels available on Prasar Bharati's Direct to Home (DTH) service would be increased to 100 and radio channels to 50 by the end of this year, its Chief Executive Officer S K Sharma said yesterday.

Pace Micro Technology plc - Interim Report 2006, for the 26 weeks ended 3 December 2005
January 17, 2006 - In the UK, which is a maturing market, shipments decreased to 0.4 million boxes (2004: 0.5m). BSkyB remained an important customer as its Sky+ PVR service continues to grow and there were ongoing shipments into UK cable.
In continental Europe, Pace has worked with Premiere, Kabel Deutschland (KDG), Viasat and Sky Italia. Shipments were lower at 0.5m (2004: 1.9m), the reduction mainly due to the high level of boxes delivered to Sky Italia last year as part of its service launch. In Germany, Pace has continued to ship basic digital set-top boxes to KDG and Premiere.
Additionally for Premiere, Pace has recently launched a standard definition PVR and became the first supplier to deliver a certified set-top box for its high definition service. This set-top box is Europe’s first to utilise the latest MPEG-4 compression technology, which enables more high definition channels to be delivered within existing available bandwidth.
Pace has commenced PVR shipments to Sky Italia and to Viasat in Scandinavia. It is developing its first set-top box for delivery to UPC (part of Liberty Global Inc) in The Netherlands following a contract win in June 2005.
In the US, Pace is now close to seeing a return on the investment made by the Group in this market over the last six years. This follows major contract wins with Comcast in May 2005 and DIRECTV in July 2005. Currently Pace is in the final development stages before delivery of the first products on both of these important contracts.
Pace’s shipments to North America during the period increased slightly to 99,000 units (2004: 75,000) and includes shipments to Rogers Cable and Videotron, Canadian cable operators.
In Asia Pacific, Pace continued to work with Foxtel in Australia and Sky New Zealand. Pace shipped PVRs for the Foxtel IQ service on both satellite and cable platforms and commenced shipments of the new Sky New Zealand PVR in December. New business was won with Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting in Hong Kong, Pace’s first move into the Chinese market.

CANALPLAY on Freebox TV: Leading Video-On-Demand Service in Europe; More than 150,000 VOD movies already purchased through Freebox TV
January 17, 2006 - Launched by Freebox and CANALPLAY (the CANAL+ Group’s video-on-demand service) on December 14th 2005, the largest video-on-demand movie service on the market has been tremendously successful: more than 150 000 films have been purchased within a month.

UK - Oxford Mobile TV trial reveals strong consumer demand for multi-channel broadcast TV onto their mobile
January 17, 2006 - Interim results from a user trial of multi-channel broadcast TV to mobile handsets have revealed a high level of consumer interest in a commercial Mobile Broadcasting service in the UK. The first phase results from the Oxford Mobile TV trial, a partnership between O2 and Arqiva, which offers 24 hour, live access to 16 TV channels, show that 83% of triallists are satisfied with the end-to-end service provided. In addition, 76% of triallists indicate that they would take up the service within 12 months.

Motorola Supports Largest Video over DSL Deployment in North America
January 17, 2006 - Motorola, Inc. customer Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) has implemented the largest single video over DSL deployment in North America. MTS, one of Canada’s leading communication providers, welcomed its 50,000th customer to its MTS TV service in November 2005.
Since deploying Motorola’s Multi-Service Access Platform in 2003 to support the delivery of advanced triple-play services such as multi-stream digital television, broadband Internet, and integrated on-screen telephony, MTS has been able to easily scale its service to provide a wide array of digital entertainment offerings to a subscriber base that’s now grown to over 50,000 customers.

India - Mumbai & Chennai, first to have Cable TV through phone lines: Maran
January 17, 2006 - Mumbai and Chennai will be the first two metros in the country to have cable TV through telephone lines, Union Minister for Communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran today announced.

ISMA Opens Comment Period for New Media Encryption Open Standard Spec Provides End-to-End Content Protection
January 17, 2006 - An open-standard specification providing end-to-end encryption for IPTV and other rich media is now available for public comment from ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance) through Feb. 10, 2006. ISMACryp 1.1 addresses encryption and message authentication services for video delivered via Internet Protocols, including mobile TV, on demand video services over DSL and cable, and other emerging applications.
Unlike other protection schemes, content delivered using ISMACryp remains encrypted along the entire transmission line and does not need to be deciphered for redistribution or storage. The specification consequently provides important safeguards against unauthorized access to movies, sensitive business video and other streaming media.

Telesat unveils plans for new digital TV satellite
January 17, 2006 - Telesat, one of the world’s leading satellite operators, announced plans today to build and launch Nimiq 4, a new direct broadcast satellite that will carry a wide range of digital television services. Telesat’s eighteenth satellite will enable Telesat’s customer, Bell ExpressVu, to continue to enhance advanced services such as high-definition television, specialty channels and foreign language programming.

Digital Cable Set Top Box Unit Shipments Post Second Consecutive Year of Growth According to In-Stat
January 17, 2006 - For the first time since 2000–2001, worldwide unit shipments of digital cable TV set top boxes will grow for the second consecutive year, reports In-Stat. Sustained North American demand for advanced or “high-end” digital cable set top boxes that include PVRs and/or high definition capability, coupled with modestly increasing demand in Asia, is fueling the market growth, the high-tech market research firm says.
A recent report by In-Stat found the following:
• Digital cable set top box worldwide unit shipments reached 12.2 million in 2005, up from 10.8 million in 2004.
• For the first time in the history of this market, shipments of advanced digital set top boxes exceeded basic digital box unit shipments in 2005.
• Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta continue to be the leading cable set top box manufacturers, accounting for 90% of all worldwide unit shipments through the first half of 2005.

NDS Provides Content Protection for Telekom Austria's aonDigital TV Broadband IPTV And VOD Service
January 17, 2006 - NDS Group plc, a leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay TV, today announced that Telekom Austria, Austria's largest telecommunications company, has selected Synamedia™, the NDS secure broadband IPTV and VOD solution and architecture.
The NDS Synamedia™ solution, integrated with VideoGuard® content protection and digital rights management, offers Telekom Austria a secure platform for the delivery of multi-channel pay-TV and VOD services to customers using a broadband connection.
Using an IP set-top-box (IP-STB), Telekom Austria, under the aonDigital TV brand, will market this entertainment service as a competitive alternative to satellite and cable television offerings. The service was launched in 2005 according to plan within the scope of a friendly customer trial in Vienna and will be made available to a larger customer base in Vienna at the beginning of 2006.

Motorola to Acquire Leading Set-Top Platform Developer Kreatel Communications, Gain Immediate European Telco TV Presence
January 17, 2006 - Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Kreatel Communications AB (publ), a leading developer of innovative Internet Protocol (IPTV) based digital set-tops, headquartered in Linköping, Sweden. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Kreatel’s Linux-based solution extends into the application and middleware layers, allowing it to be used with a broad set of middleware solutions. Kreatel’s customer base includes such major service providers as Telefónica (Spain), TeliaSonera (Sweden), and KPN (The Netherlands).
This flexible set-top platform is a natural complement to Motorola’s end-to-end digital video solution, and particularly addresses the growing need for IPTV based digital set-tops. Motorola offers flexible solutions throughout the cable, xDSL, and fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) video chain – including network infrastructure, video headend and transport, industry-leading MPEG-4 encoding, and connected home devices.

U.S. On-demand Internet Content Revenues to Approach $9 Billion by 2010
January 17, 2006 - U.S. consumer spending for online entertainment, including on-demand gaming, music, and video services, will grow by 260% in the next five years, according to "Digital Lifestyles: 2006 Outlook", a new study from Parks Associates. Driven by broadband usage and innovations in digital entertainment platforms and content services, revenues will grow from $2.4 billion in 2006 to nearly $9 billion in 2010.
Digital Lifestyles: 2006 Outlook also includes global forecasts for consumer broadband users, home data networks, and multichannel IP video services (“Telco TV” or “IPTV” services).
• The number of worldwide consumer broadband subscribers will grow from 184 million in 2005 to more than 360 million in 2010;
• The number of households worldwide using data networking equipment will grow from approximately 82 million in 2005 to more than 135 million in 2010; and
• Worldwide subscribers to IP multichannel video services (IPTV) will grow from approximately five million in 2005 to nearly 70 million in 2010.

Beijing Netcom Starts Full IPTV Test
January 16, 2006 - Following an IPTV test in Harbin, Beijing Netcom has begun to issue bidding documents to IPTV equipment manufacturers such as UT Starcom, Siemens, ZTE, Huawei and Shanghai Bell-Alcatel, inviting them to participate in its IPTV test in Beijing area.

China Looks to Internet-Based TV
January 16, 2006 (Sci-Tech Today) - In spite of the huge potential, the growth of China's IPTV market is still being restrained by regulatory barriers that have been thwarting the creation of new business models and its rapid take-off. According to China Business News, IPTV may challenge the current profitability and position of local radio, film and television sectors in China.

Taiwan - Cable TV operator TBC to shift its DTV standards from ATSC to DVB-C
January 16, 2006 (DigiTimes) - Taiwan Broadband Communications (TBC), a top five cable TV operator in Taiwan, indicated it will comply with government policies on digital TV and shift its broadcasting standards from Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) to Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C).

Taiwan's TV Broadcasting To Enter Full Digital Era By 2010: CEPD
January 16, 2006 (Yahoo/Asia Pulse) - By 2010 the government will recall all analogue terrestrial television frequencies currently in use in Taiwan to make way for the full implementation of digital TV broadcasting, Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) officials said Saturday.

TTPCom reveals its converged mobile device strategy
January 16, 2006 - TTPCom Limited (TTPCom) today announced details of its mobile handset technology strategy to support the accelerating pace of telecommunications, internet and broadcast convergence and to bring the benefits of this convergence to mass market mobile devices. The foundation of TTPCom's support for the merger of mobile, fixed, broadband and broadcast capability lies in the TTPCom Architecture - a next generation intelligent framework for mobile devices.
This intelligent architecture provides a common software platform approach across multiple chipsets and multiple access technologies, allowing large technology blocks to be readily included or omitted for a variety of different handset models. The TTPCom Architecture has been specified to allow support for a range of multiple access technologies including traditional cellular (such as GSM/GPRS and WCDMA) as well as emerging capabilities such as WiFi, WiMax and Digital TV. Each of these access technologies routes information to handset applications via a common set of Internet Protocol (IP) packet based transport capabilities including the emerging IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). The TTPCom Architecture ensures a clean separation of access technologies from IP transport protocols, leading to efficient and reliable implementations and reduced handset testing cycles.

NEC Elec Aims For Digital Broadcast Chip Sales Y30 Billion FY07
January 15, 2006 (Morning Star/Dow Jones) - NEC Electronics Corp. (6723.TO) said Monday it will strengthen its business handling terrestrial digital broadcasting related chips by actively launching new products.