High Definition

AT&T IPTV nears 1 million subscribers

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:30:18 -0500

Cable TV and telco executives already have been making news at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference this week, and here's more: AT&T Operations president and CEO John Stankey said the telco giant is set to pass through the threshold of 1 million IPTV customers sometime next week. AT&T had long talked of its goal to hit the 1 million mark by the end of this year, and it seems that the recession and ongoing concerns about consumer spending have not kept it from doing so. Stankey said U-verse TV now passes more than 17 million "living units."

Stankey also said AT&T will continue to add new capabilities to its U-verse IPTV offering, including more high-definition channels and greater HD streaming capacity, according to Light Reading. The LR report also said Stankey alluded to adding "more Internet-like capabilities," though it is not clear exactly what this means. Fellow telco TV player Verizon Communications has been pressing toward more integration on online video and TV content, and AT&T may be doing the same, though the company also may be talking about content searching capabilities or other aspects of the service. Sounds interesting in any case.

For more:
- Light Reading has this post

China Telecom finishes Shanghai upgrade

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:37:19 -0500

China Telecom, which has about 1.51 million IPTV customers in China, has completed an upgrade to the Shanghai portion of its network, on which it offers service in partnership with Shanghai Media Group. IPTV News reports that the upgrade will support a surge toward 900,000 IPTV customers in the area, with the telco particularly focusing on Shanghai, where service adoption has been strong. China Telecom also has a key IPTV development lab there. ZTE, UTStarcom and Huawei Technologies were among key vendors on the upgrade project. The telco also earlier this year lined up orders for up to 574,000 set-top boxes, most of them high-definition STBs.

For more:
- IPTV News has this report

Couch potato economy telco TV's gain?

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:53:10 -0500

You knew it wouldn't be long before TV service providers battled back against perceptions about how poor consumer spending could hurt their bottom lines. It might seem natural that in a down economy customers might turn away from TV services-especially premium features such as high-definition channels or multi-room DVR--to save a few bucks. However, that doesn't seem to be the case, according to a survey commissioned by Verizon Communications, a company which of course has much to gain from more exuberant consumer spending.

The survey found that 57 percent of 1,026 adults surveyed will tighten their belts by actually staying home more and watching more TV. Respondents also showed strong interest in premium features like HD DVR.

A couple times in recent months, telco TV folks have suggested to me in interviews that consumers view TV and entertainment services almost as lifeline services-the way they once and now less frequently view voice service. That seemed like wishful thinking at the time, but maybe they are onto something.

For more:
- Telephony has this report

TelcoTV 2008: IP-Prime getting more primed

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:54:38 -0500

SES Americom's IPTV programming and overlay solution, IP-Prime, could be launched by up to a dozen more telcos by the end of this year, according to an announcement from SES Americom at TelcoTV 2008. About 65 telcos in 31 states have signed up for the offering, which is endorsed by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. SES has racked up dozens more telcos than it had done so at the time of TelcoTV 2007, which came not long after the launch of IP Prime. About 30 telcos are actually offering commercial service.

IP-Prime offers more than 200 standard definition and 50 high-definition channels sent to a telco headend or delivered as an overlay solution. SES Americom has said the solution could save rural telcos up to $10 million and the hassles of working with a content aggregator.

For more:
- Telephony has this story

Amino is in the house

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:43:43 -0500

U.K.-based set-top technology vendor Amino Communications will be at TelcoTV 2008, making its first trip to the conference since acquiring digital proposition management provider and one-time BT division AssetHouse.

Amino plans to demonstrate high-definition H.264 IPTV set-top boxes, including the AmiNET530 Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and the AmiNET130. The company also will be presenting its Plug-In DVR capability, designed for easier installation and upgrades to existing set-top boxes. Additionally, Amino will be ready to discuss the transition of telco TV providers to support over-the-top online video.

New Amino CEO Andrew Burke will be at TelcoTV 2008, and he said of the AssetHouse buy, "The acquisition of AssetHouse has been key for us to move forward in becoming an IPTV solutions provider and not just a STB manufacturer. As the industry moves towards true interactivity and true personalization, we need to ensure that IPTV and pay television services make consumers ‘want it, like it, keep it and ultimately pay for it.'"

Related articles
Amino acquired AssetHouse in June
TV 2.0 player Sezmi is using AssetHouse

Buckeye makes a SeaChange upgrade

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:12:02 -0400

Midwestern service provider Buckeye CableSystem has upgraded the SeaChange software it currently uses for its video-on-demand offering, a move that will allow Buckeye to support high-definition content and continue to grow the four-year-old service. Buckeye's VOD offering already is available to its 90,000 digital subscribers in Ohio and Michigan, and it generates almost 250,000 VOD requests per month.

SeaChange issued a press release stating that "the most popular content for Buckeye VOD is stored on SeaChange MediaServer FMS 200 flash memory-based servers, while long-tail material is stored on HDS 601 hybrid disk-based servers. The new servers add more than 7,000 streams to Buckeye's VOD capacity, which is managed by a newly deployed version of Axiom On Demand software, SeaChange's open content delivery platform."

Jim Brown, Director of Engineering, Buckeye CableSystem, said in the press release that his company gains an "ideal storage and streaming architecture," that supports the HD rollout and ensures a high quality viewing experience for customers.

Buckeye is the 21st largest multiple system (cable) operator in the U.S., serving 130,000 customers in and around Toledo, Ohio, and another 20,000 customers in other markets in the nearby region. The company alos offers telephony and Internet services, and is the subsidiary of the firm that operates CLEC Buckeye TeleSystem.

For more:
Here's the SeaChange press release

Related article
Japan's OnDemand TV also uses SeaChange

Canby can add HD channels via IP-Prime

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:19:56 -0400

Oregon-based independent teclo Canby Telcom has added more than two dozen high-definition channels to its IPTV line-up. Canby got help from the satellite-based IP-Prime transport solution offered by SES Americom, in tandem with the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC).

Canby's new MPEG-4 HD channels include Discovery, Disney, Showtime, Fox News, ESPN, A&E, the Food Network and a handful of local broadcast services, bringing the telco's total HD channel count to 36. The NRTC member was among the first small telcos in the U.S. to launch IPTV in 2005.

For more:
- see this post at IPTV News

AT&T pushes MPEG-4 to full HD potential

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:43:06 -0400

AT&T did not pursue the same fiber-to-the-home IPTV plans that some others carriers have relied on, but John Donovan, the telco's CTO, said at a conference last week that increasingly efficient MPEG-4 compression will help AT&T continue to grow its high-definition channel line-up.

Donovan said MPEG-4 video compression for the company's U-verse TV service will improve to around 5 Mbps next year from its present rate of about 6 Mbps to 8 Mbps. That efficiency gain also will help AT&T support more simultaneous streams with its new whole-home DVR service in use--three live streams and four recorded streams.

MPEG-4 equipment was slow to come to market, but the protocol now can give IPTV service providers some help against their cable TV competitors, who mostly use MPEG-2 compression.

For more:
- read this coverage at Multichannel News

Hill Country telco targets TV

Dan O'Shea — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:06:50 -0400

Hill Country Telephone Cooperative, which is based in Ingram, Tex., and has about 14,000 customer for telephone, Internet and other services, plans to reach all of its customers with a test of Infinite Video's high-definition video, video-on-demand and other services over its existing network.

For more:
- see this post at IPTV News

Panhandle goes with Entone for HD IPTV

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:26:22 -0400

Oklahoma's Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, Inc (PTCI), already an experienced IPTV carrier, is deploying new high-definition IPTV services with the help of Entone Communications. The vendor is supplying PTCI with its Hydra IP video gateway and Amulet HD IPTV receiver.

The telco, based in Guymon, Okla., serves parts of Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. It wants to offer more advanced services, such as whole-home network applications, HDTV, on-screen caller ID and interactivity, without having to spend excessively to re-wire customer homes. PTCI has been in the IPTV business for at least six years and was among the first U.S. telcos to launch IPTV.

For more:
- see this post at IPTV News

Related articles:
PTCI was one of our Fierce 15 IPTV Innovators last year. PTCI report
Entone and Minerva Networks teamed up for a whole-home DVR solution. Entone report

Verizon, Dish lead HD channel charge

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:37:30 -0400

TV providers continue to try to out-do one another in the area of high-definition channel line-ups, and Multichannel News reports that Dish Network and Verizon Communications are leading the way. Both service providers are targeting 150 HD channels by the end of this year. Dish last month launched a new satellite giving its capacity to reach 150 channels, and it recently launched its TurboHD service. DirecTV also is moving to 130 HD channels later this month.

For more:
- ready this story at Multichannel News

Related articles:
HDTV programming can strain network bandwidth. HDTV report
HDTV rollouts by small telco were affected by a software issue. HDTV report

Also Noted: WHDI emerges

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:23:21 -0400

Chipmaker Amimon’s alliance with Sony and Samsung to support its Wireless Home Digital Interface technology is likely to move the industry forward even as it puts the consumer electronics giants at odds with another technology they support, WirelessHD. “Interestingly, both of these companies have veterans from the HDMI [high-definition multimedia interface] industry,” one expert said. “Both companies understand what it takes to put an industry standard in place and are modeling theirs after the HDMI group. ... People are enamored with wireless technologies, and the ability to send video data from your DVD player or set-top box to the TV is the holy grail of wireless video communication.”

Source: TelephonyOnline