MCN Telco IP September 11, 2007

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September 11, 2007

TOP STORY: AT&T Passes 100,000-Subscriber Mark
Set-Top Boxes:: Motorola Sees IPTV Surge
On the Front Lines
· Portugal Telecom Plugs In Harmonic's Video Headend
· Swisscom Deploys Tandberg iPlex
· France’s Free Upgrades IPTV With Cisco
· BT Uses Motorola Video Encoding for Sports VOD
· T-Com Montenegro Launches IPTV With SA Headend
· U.K.’s Freewire IPTV Secured by Widevine
One-Liners

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Top Story AT&T Passes 100,000-Subscriber Mark

AT&T has doubled the number of U-verse TV subscribers in about two months -- announcing that the service now has more than 100,000 customers -- and the phone company said it will add at least five new high-definition channels to the service by the end of 2007. The telco last reported having 51,000 U-verse TV customers as of the end of June. U-verse TV will soon launch new content, according to AT&T, including five HD channels scheduled to be added by the end of this year: Lifetime Movie Network HD, History Channel HD, Animal Planet HD, TBS HD and Comcast's combo Versus/The Golf Channel HD. The telco typically has offered 26 national HD channels in the markets where U-verse TV is available.

AT&T also is prepping the launch of new features it claimed will further differentiate U-verse TV from cable: U-bar will bring "Internet-like content to the television screen" in the form of customized weather, stock, traffic and sports, AT&T said. Other pending features include YellowPages.com TV, to let subscribers search for local businesses, and Yahoo! Games on the TV, including sudoku, solitaire, mah-jongg and chess.

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Set-Top Boxes:Motorola Sees IPTV Surge

Motorola shipped its 2 millionth Internet Protocol set-top box, less than six months after hitting the 1 million mark, and teamed up with Microsoft to test its video-encoding systems with the software giant’s IPTV platform.

The equipment vendor cited Swedish telecommunications provider TeliaSonera as having deployed the 2 millionth IP set-top, a VIP1510, as part of a 150,000-unit order. Motorola noted that it recognized a portion of the revenue from the TeliaSonera deal in previous quarters. Separately, Motorola said it joined the formal interoperability testing program for Microsoft’s Mediaroom IPTV platform.

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Brief Portugal Telecom Plugs In Harmonic's Video Headend

Portugal Telecom, which has more than 685,000 ADSL subscribers, has deployed Harmonic's DiviCom Electra MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoders to power its nationwide IPTV service.

The digital video headend includes the Electra 7000 high-definition encoders and Electra 5400 standard-definition encoders. The Harmonic equipment is part of an overall system at Portugal Telecom designed and integrated by Alcatel-Lucent.

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Brief Swisscom Deploys Tandberg iPlex

Swisscom has picked Tandberg Television’s iPlex UltraCompression IPTV headend equipment for the next phase of the telephone provider’s Bluewin IPTV service. Swisscom and Tandberg Television initiated the trial of the Bluewin IPTV system in the fall of 2004, followed by commercial deployment in November 2006.

Swisscom will use the iPlex UltraCompression, which according to Tandberg offers bandwidth improvements of up to 50% compared with its previous-generation compression systems, for high-definition and standard-definition video.

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Brief France’s Free Upgrades IPTV With Cisco

Paris-based service provider Iliad Group’s Free doubled the capacity of its Cisco Systems-based IP network by upgrading the its 16-slot Cisco CRS-1 systems to a multichassis configuration with a capacity of up to 2.5 terabits per second.

Free, which more than 2.5 million subscribers, recently launched a user-created TV channel service called TV Perso Freebox and Free Home Video, a subscription-based on-demand service for movies and TV series. Free expects IP traffic requirements to continue to double every 18 months.

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Brief BT Uses Motorola Video Encoding for Sports VOD

BT is using Motorola's VODxchange encoding capability as part of offering the BT Vision Sport service to consumers across the U.K.

Launched in August, BT Vision Sports allows BT broadband subscribers to access on-demand coverage of the day's premiership soccer matches at 10 p.m. on the day of the match. BT Vision Sports' deployment marks the first implementation of Motorola's VODxchange MPEG-4 encoding solution in the U.K.

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Brief T-Com Montenegro Launches IPTV With SA Headend

Cisco Systems’ Scientific Atlanta unit announced that T-Com Montenegro (Crnogorski Telekom) will launch IPTV service in late 2007 using an array of SA products to create a video headend with an expected delivery capacity of up to 60 channels of standard-definition digital programming.

The headend will help enable T-Com Montenegro, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, to acquire video content via satellite and over-the-air networks. The IPTV headend will include a wide range of Scientific Atlanta products, including more than 60 D9034 MPEG-4 AVC standard-definition encoders and nearly 70 Model D9844 and D9850 receivers.

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Brief U.K.’s Freewire IPTV Secured by Widevine

British service provider Inuk Networks selected Widevine Technologies to provide content security for the company’s Freewire IPTV service to PCs set to launch this month.

Freewire features a "virtual set-top box" that provides television programming on PCs with digital video recorder capabilities. All on-screen information and controls are displayed within a customizable electronic program guide for viewing on Windows or Mac based platforms. Freewire is Inuk’s branded platform for the delivery of video, voice and data services to consumers, with an initial direct focus on the student market.

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One-Liners

• Envivio, a provider of IP-video encoding solutions, licensed Microsoft’s VC-1 Encoder to the Envivio Convergence Generation headend solution to support Windows Media Video (VC-1) format.

• LUXE.TV, a Luxembourg-based luxury network, picked Ateme SA’s Kyrion hardware-based MPEG-4 H.264 encoders for its HD transmissions.

• Digital Rapids launched StreamZ Live, a new family of live streaming encoders designed for live IPTV channels and Webcasting.

• Actor Tyler Perry plans to launch a 24-hour online TV channel featuring his own content, powered by Narrowstep's Internet-broadcasting technology, available through www.tylerperry.com

• Nokia Siemens Networks and Intel said they are collaborating to develop home-networking features for Nokia Siemens Networks’ IPTV solution, such as Universal Plug and Play and Digital Living Network Alliance standards.

• Maven Networks, a provider of Internet TV services, announced that it will integrate with Adobe’s Media Player.

• Digital Fountain, a provider of software and services for digital-media delivery, and Neptuny, a provider of IPTV services and solutions, launched a server-based software solution called ToughStream Server designed to improve quality of service for IPTV providers.

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