|
 |
May 22, 2007
This weekly e-mail newsletter covers everything related to Telco-IP Television.
Motorola to Buy Another IPTV Startup
Stirring another IPTV specialist into the mix, Motorola plans to acquire MPEG-4 video-compression startup Modulus Video for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2002, Modulus develops MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding compression systems designed to deliver video content over IPTV, cable, broadcast and satellite networks. Key investors in the 57-employee company include Thomas Weisel Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures.
Modulus has worked closely with Motorola since 2005 to jointly deliver MPEG-4 AVC encoders to telco customers, including AT&T, Bell Canada and CenturyTel.
The deal is Motorola's fifth IPTV-related acquisition in 18 months, following its deals for video-on-demand server maker Broadbus Technologies, IPTV set-top maker Kreatel Communications, IPTV encoding-equipment provider Tut Systems and digital-subscriber-line gateway vendor Netopia Systems.
"As consumers demand more high-definition video and interactive services, the need for advanced compression technology is increasingly important,” Motorola Home and Networks Mobility business president Dan Moloney said in a prepared statement.
Modulus CEO Bob Wilson said his company will give Motorola a “software-centric platform that ensures flexibility, reduced cost and fast development time.”
Motorola intends to maintain Modulus’ operations in Sunnyvale, Calif., and operate it as a wholly owned subsidiary within Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility business unit.
The companies expect the deal -- subject to routine closing conditions -- to be completed before the end of the third quarter of 2007.
[back to top]
BigBand to Demo IPTV Over Cable Modems
BigBand Networks said it will demonstrate its modular cable-modem-termination system delivering HD video-on-demand and Internet-protocol TV over existing cable modems at Europe's ANGA Cable conference next week.
The company is intending to show that it can deliver IP-based video using existing Cable Television Laboratories’ M-CMTS and Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification standards. In a prepared statement, BigBand vice president and manager of cable IP John Holobinko said, "There is simply no need for operators to embark on a proprietary approach to IP video.” That’s an evident dig at Motorola, which has proposed what it calls the DOCSIS IPTV Bypass Architecture (DIBA). In this approach, video would be sent directly through an edge quadrature-amplitude-modulation device, rather than being processed through
the CMTS. Motorola argued that DIBA, or something like it, is more efficient for delivering large quantities of IP video rather than burdening a CMTS with that traffic. BigBand, meanwhile, said one cable operator -- which it would not identify -- is already using its Cuda CMTS to deliver IP-based VOD to subscribers.
At the ANGA show, BigBand said it will present two demos: One showing HD VOD accessed over DOCSIS 2.0 modems, and one using DOCSIS 3.0 downstream-channel bonding capabilities to deliver standard-definition and HD video to an IPTV set-top box.
[back to top]
FiOS TV Builds Empire in Empire State
The Rockland County village of West Haverstraw and the Westchester County community of North Castle approved video franchises for Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV service last week.
The telco will compete with incumbent cable operator Cablevision Systems in both communities.
The North Castle franchise covers the town's unincorporated hamlets of Armonk, North White Plains and Banksville. Each incorporated area of North Castle, as well as all other incorporated areas of New York, must conduct its own negotiations with Verizon for a video franchise.
The approvals by West Haverstraw and North Castle came one day after a similar action by the Long Island community of New Hyde Park, where the telco will also compete with Cablevision.
And Comcast is facing new competition on Dunstable, Mass., after Verizon launched FiOS TV to 1,000 households in that town.
[back to top]
TI, NSCC Team Up on Single-Chip IPTV Box
Texas Instruments and National Source Coding Audio & Video Technologies (NSCC) announced the delivery of what they called the industry's first single-chip IPTV set-top-box solution enabling dual decoding of AVS and H.264, the HM2006.
The two companies said the HM2006 was built on TI’s DaVinci technology platform and uses TI’s DM644x digital signal processors and NSCC’s AVS decoding algorithm, enabling AVS, H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4 and WMV video decoding.
In-Stat (a sister company to Multichannel News) sees the IPTV marketing in China reaching annual revenue of $888 million by 2010.
[back to top]
Celrun, Metalink Team Up on IPTV Set-Top
Celrun and Metalink teamed up to launch a next generation IPTV set-top box at the IPTV World Forum Eastern Europe trade show in Prague, Czech Republic.
The new set-top is powered by Metalink's 802.11n WLANPlus chip set, and the two companies said it can deliver HD video over wireless home networks.
[back to top]
Avail Media Avails Itself of $17M in Funding
Avail Media, a provider of IPTV and advanced media services to broadband operators, secured $17 million in series-B venture financing.
The round was co-led by Washington, D.C.-area funds Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Columbia Capital. The company was founded earlier this year as the result of the merger between Auroras Entertainment and Broadstream Communications. Its CEO is former Broadstream CEO Ramu Potarazu, and ex-Auroras CEO Diane Smith is Avail’s president.
[back to top]
• According to a new study from Frost & Sullivan, IPTV-Personalizing Television: North American IPTV Services Market, the sector earned revenues of $423 million in 2006, which will skyrocket to $12 billion in 2013. “While the industrial revolution heralded mass production and automation, the current information age has brought mass customization to the forefront," senior analyst Lynda Starr said in a prepared statement.
• The original-equipment-manufacturing market for IPTV gear is expected to grow to $22.1 billion in 2011 from $9 billion in 2007, according to projections from iSuppli.
[back to top]
TO SUBSCRIBE:
www.multichannel.com/newsletters or e-mail MULcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Customer Service Manager
Reed Business Information
225 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA 02451
MediaSupport@reedbusiness.com
EDITOR:
David Cohen
646-746-6585
dcohen@reedbusiness.com
AD SALES:
Larry Dunn
646-746-6572
ldunn@reedbusiness.com
Privacy Policy:
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved. |
|
