Accedo selected as Preferred Developer Consultant for Facebook Platform

Accedo Broadband, the leading provider of app stores and applications for IPTV and Connected TV, recently announced that it has been selected as a Preferred Developer Consultant for Facebook applications.

Facebook launched Facebook Platform in May 2007 to enable developers and entrepreneurs to access the core features of Facebook through a set of powerful APIs. Facebook Platform enables companies and developers to build apps or integrations that can potentially reach an audience of more than 500 million people.

Accedo is working with TV operators, CE manufacturers, TV platforms and media companies to create advanced TV applications, which integrate with Facebook. Applications are both stand-alone apps and integrated apps with contextual functionality and are compliant with all major IPTV middlewares and Connected TV solutions.

Accedo Broadband working with Telstra to develop Live TV Apps for Connected TV

Accedo Broadband, the leading provider of app stores and applications for IPTV and Connected TV is working with Telstra to develop BigPond TV applications for multiple TV and blu-ray platforms.

The applications launched in January and are delivering seven Telstra BigPond TV channels to LG and Samsung Connected TV sets and blu-ray players across Australia.

The channels include several designed for sporting fans including football, rugby league, racing, supercars, and a sports news channel. It also includes a news channel and a music channel.

The channels are being streamed using Google’s Widevine adaptive streaming technology, meaning a seamless and truly immersive experience for consumers.

Accedo and Telstra are working on a number of application projects and has previously developed an innovative Game Analyser for TV devices, which is a first of its kind on demand sporting experience. It combines full match replays with intricate game statistics of all NRL rugby matches.

The Tablet Is Changing the Face of TV

iTunes offers a handful of apps that allow subscribers to watch live TV on their iPhone or iPad. But just browsing through the selections, and more importantly the reviews, it seems live streaming TV to a mobile device has not yet been perfected! Most apps are aimed at niche audiences, require additional hardware to view the video or simply provide an inferior playback experience due to unreliable bandwidth to properly stream the video.

I’d argue the biggest impediment to perfecting these apps is content. The biggest impediment to gaining the rights to content is content security. And who already has access to high-quality content and conditional access (CA) / digital rights management (DRM) systems in place? Digital TV operators. We believe the cable, satellite and IPTV operators that already have the rights to broadcast premium content are in the cat bird seat to offer the best live mobile TV experience.

The demand is clear. According to Sandvine, real-time entertainment, including video streaming, now accounts for about 43% of North American Internet traffic, up from 10% in 2008! And for the first time in history, the number of households paying for TV subscriptions is falling, in part due to the rise of Internet TV and over-the-top (OTT) services.

The technology is finally catching up to this demand when you consider what adaptive rate streaming can now enable.

Now, in this new OTT world, the issue of content rights is complicated. Take companies like Ivi and FilmOn.com for example. They have developed technology that captures over-the-air broadcast signals and streams them to mobile devices – without consent from the networks.

Clearly these broadcasters are not thrilled with the so-called loophole that they found in the U.S. Copyright Act. Both of these companies are already in an embattled legal fight with content owners to see if they have the right to do this. According to some attorneys, the law is on the side of the networks.

We recently launched our ViewRight LIVE app in iTunes, which enables secure distribution of premium pay-TV services via WiFi and mobile wireless networks – of live TV. The app provides subscriber/device registration and device-level authentication. ViewRight LIVE also allows operators to customize and brand their mobile TV channel to match the look and feel of their traditional channels.

So with the content rights, technology infrastructure and now the security available to enable a superior live mobile TV experience, digital TV operators have a tremendous opportunity. I’d say it is better to beat fledging online TV operators in the marketplace rather than the courtroom.

What are your thoughts?

--content submitted by Verimatrix--

Accedo Broadband and Popbox announce application partnership

Accedo Broadband, the leading provider of interactive applications for IPTV and Connected TV, and Syabas, the maker of the innovative Popbox over-the-top device today announced a partnership for applications on the Popbox devices.

The first set of applications from Accedo to be launched on Popbox is a range of games from its popular Funspot casual game portfolio.

The innovative Popbox platform enables consumers to enjoy a wide assortment of content including blockbuster movies, Internet radio, home videos, photos, music, games and more directly on their TV.

Visitors attending CES can view demos of the initial apps deployed by Accedo on the Popbox platform by appointment only at the Hilton. Contact Steve Young for appointment.

For the complete article, please click here.

Canal+ introduces prepaid cards for IPTV

French pay-TV provider Canal+ is offering parts of its programming free of charge to subscribers of the Orange TV and BBox IPTV platforms until December 1. The operator has also introduced prepaid cards for IPTV viewers.

The move is part of a big marketing push by the pay-TV operator to increase the number of subscribers to its main premium channels, Canal+, Canal+ Décalé, Canal+ Sport, Canal+ Family and Canal+ Cinéma. Orange TV as well as Bouygues Telecom’s BBox customers can watch eight hours a day of premium programming for free.

The Canal+ group has also introduced pre-paid cards for triple play subscribers to the IPTV services from Orange, SFR, Free, Alice, Darty and Bouygues Telecom. For €10 people have one week access to the five main channels from Canal+, or to the CanalSat thematic bouquet.

For the complete article, please click here.

State of the Worldwide Digital Television Market

The global market for television services continues to grow despite persistent economic challenges throughout the world. Most of this growth is occurring in digital technologies, with digital terrestrial and cable services supplanting their analog counterparts while IPTV providers fight to increase their piece of the television services pie.

Increased awareness of what is possible on the TV has driven consumer interest in these services, and competition has caused many providers around the globe to evaluate and introduce advanced TV features that leverage digital technologies. Companies in developed nations, including North America and Europe, are rolling out on-demand, interactive, and time/place-shifting offerings. Several providers in emerging markets, such as China and India, are working on digitalization of their services, and they are exploring the new features made possible by this technological shift.

To read more about the State of the Worldwide Digital Television Market, subscribe to Parks Associates' European Research Update Newsletter.

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Gigle Networks Technology Pushes Solwise Adapters to Gigabit Speeds, Enables 'No-New-Wires' Installation

Gigle Networks, the leading developer of intelligent multi-PHY switching devices for both wired and wireless entertainment grade home networking, announced that Solwise has selected the company's solution for its Mediaxtream/HomePlug AV Ethernet adapter. Gigle Networks' HomePlug AV chipset with Mediaxtream technology enables the Solwise adapter to deliver ultra-high-speed, low-latency connections for residential gateways, game consoles, media players, PCs and IPTV set-top boxes.

Gigle Networks' chipset uses the company's patented Mediaxtream technology to deliver wireline Gigabit-class performance with minimum latency, while maintaining full interoperability with other certified compliant 200Mbps HomePlug AV products and forthcoming IEEE 1901 products. The fully integrated device includes dual physical-layer interfaces, media access control and Smart Mesh home/Quality-of-Service/Class-of-Service switching capabilities. Smart Mesh capabilities coordinate traffic management for optimum performance and coverage in difficult signal environments or over long networking connections in the home.

Gigle Networks' chipset also meets European 2011 Code of Conduct requirements for adapters and QoS, which is essential for video distribution around the home. Additionally, all Gigle Networks devices support Gigle Networks' Xtendnet intelligent switching technology, which amplifies and re-times signals on the powerline for improved network coverage. They also meet the active and standby power requirements for adapters of the Energy using Products Directive Lot 6.

For more information, click here.

Gigle Networks Sponsors CONNECTIONS 2010

Parks Associates welcomes Gigle Networks as a CONNECTIONS 2010 Silver Sponsor.

Gigle Networks provides System-on‐Chip (SoC) integrated circuits and complete system solutions for multimedia home networking that can extend wired and wireless Ethernet everywhere in the home –without the need for new wires. Targeted for applications such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), broadband TV (BBTV), video on demand (VoD), and Voice over IP (VoIP), Gigle Networks' products offer superior performance, coverage and quality of service when compared to alternative communication technologies, and are designed to be easily integrated into consumer electronics and networked products.

Gigle Networks is a strong supporter of open standards, a board member of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, and an active participant in the IEEE P1901 standards body and the ITU‐T G.hn wireline standardization initiative.

Gigle Networks has offices in Redwood City, Calif., Barcelona, Spain, and Edinburgh, UK.

For more information about Gigle Networks, visit http://www.giglenetworks.com/.

Accedo Broadband sponsors CONNECTIONS Europe 2010

Parks Associates welcome Accedo Broadband as a 2010 Advisory Sponsor for CONNECTIONS Europe.

Accedo Broadband is the leading provider of applications for IPTV and Connected TV. Accedo Broadband provides the largest available application portfolio and an app store engine for IPTV and Connected TV containing, for example, IPTV games, VoD, Catch-up TV, music, video art, comics, karaoke, lifestyle, niche sports, weather, social media and communication services. Accedo’s Funspot gaming service is the most widely deployed IPTV gaming service in the world.

Accedo is a privately held company founded by telecom and media entrepreneurs Michael Lantz and Fredrik Andersson primarily backed by Swedish VC Industrifonden. Accedo Broadband is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with branch offices in London, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Sydney.

For more information, visit www.accedobroadband.com .

Latens sponsors CONNECTIONS Europe

Parks Associates welcome Latens as the newest Advisory Sponsor for the upcoming CONNECTIONS Europe Summit in Amsterdam on April 27th.

Latens is leading the way in IPTV and fully DVB® compliant software Conditional Access and Middleware, enabling operators of broadcast and broadband Pay-TV networks around the world to securely deliver next generation entertainment services to set-top boxes, PCs, mobile devices and home networks. With offices in the US, UK and India Latens’ customer base stretches globally. Latens continued success has been recognised with the recent inclusion in the top 500 Fast Deloitte companies for the EMEA region.

For more information about Latens please visit www.latens.com.

Next generation applications drive the future of TV

Accedo Broadband, the provider of app stores and IPTV applications and Netgem, a leading provider of IPTV technology and services to Telecom operators worldwide, today announced that Accedo’s IPTV applications are to be made available via Netgem’s IPTV platform – NetgemTV.

The two companies will introduce a range of customised and innovative IPTV applications over the next 12 months.

Netgem technology is employed in over 2.5 million homes globally and is among the Top 10 most deployed IPTV solutions worldwide. Netgem's customers include leading telecom operators such as SFR in France, Telstra of Australia, Elisa in Finland, Monaco Telecom, Algeria Telecom, FetchTV in the UK and Melita in Malta.

For the full press release, click here.

ADB & Mariner Integrate Monitoring, Diagnostic, Resolution Software

Advanced Digital Broadcast, a leading supplier of technology to the global digital television industry, and Mariner, a leading provider of innovative IP video technologies, today unveiled a solution to enable proactive pay-TV service monitoring which increases the quality of subscribers' experience and reduces operator costs.

The joint solution integrates new software capabilities in ADB's latest IPTV set-top boxes with Mariner's award-winning flagship service assurance suite, xVuTM. The solution provides quantifiable metrics on the quality of the video, audio and performance of each set-top box in each home. The operator has visibility into problems of long channel change times, errors within the video such as frame drop, and can proactively resolve them, sometimes even before the subscriber notices them, let alone calls for support.

For the full press release, click here.

CONNECTIONS Europe Welcomes New Sponsor

Parks Associates welcomes Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) as a 2010 Advisory Sponsor for the CONNECTIONS Europe Summit in Amsterdam.

Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) provides set-top solutions to the worldwide digital television industry. We supply advanced customer premise equipment across all transmission platforms including cable, IPTV, satellite, and terrestrial. We strive to bring to market innovative solutions that help our customers deliver the best consumer TV experience. A leader in hybrid set-top devices with deep software expertise, ADB enables the Internet/TV content convergence, letting operators provide innovative services such as push video-on-demand, multi-room DVR, interactive TV, over-the-top applications and more. We fine-tune the entire software and hardware set-top solution for each operator’s specific infrastructure to deliver peak performance. With over 15 million digital set-top devices sold to a global customer base, our products have been recognised for being among the industry’s most advanced and reliable.

For more information, visit www.adb.com.

Accedo Broadband Presents App Store for SVG and Flash

Accedo Broadband today announced that its App Store Solution for IPTV is now compatible with SVG and Flash. SVG and Flash are becoming increasingly popular with operators as an alternative to standard browser solutions, offering them smoother animations and transitions and a more attractive user interface.

The App Store UI has been created to be easily modified and re-branded to suit the customer’s requirements. It is designed for a smooth and attractive user experience in High Definition and is integrated with the same back-end services that operate all of Accedo’s App Store solutions.

Accedo Broadband will be demonstrating its App Store solution at the IPTV World Forum, from 23rd – 25th March, stand number 17. In addition to the App Store itself, Accedo will also demonstrate a range of applications from the Accedo Application Portfolio, including games, social media, music and video services.

For the full press release, click here.

Technicolor reaches 100 million digital set-top box milestone

Technicolor, formerly Thomson, a worldwide leader of services to content creators, has reached the milestone of delivering 100 million digital set-top boxes over multi networks since it entered the market in 1994.

Technicolor’s success is largely thanks to the contracts it has won with major clients in a global marketplace. In North America, Technicolor’s first digital satellite STB customer, DIRECTV remains a loyal customer today. In Latin America, Technicolor provides set-top boxes to key players including DIRECTV Latin America and Sky Brazil and Sky Mexico, while in Europe, it has nurtured relationships with leading names including UPC Broadband and News Corp. affiliates such as BSkyB, as well as HOT, in the Middle East, and Astro of Malaysia and Tata Sky in the Asia-Pacific.

For many of its global customers, Technicolor has established long-term relationships and garnered repeat business thanks to its ongoing product evolution for all technology platforms, including digital cable, satellite television, terrestrial broadcasting and IPTV.

For the full press release, click here.

Henry Choy Joins ActiveVideo Networks to Drive Web-Connected TV Initiative

Henry Choy, a highly regarded thought leader in the consumer electronics industry for more than 20 years, has joined ActiveVideo Networks™ as Vice President, Business Development, the company announced today.

Choy, who will be responsible for driving ActiveVideo’s Web-Connected TV initiative, has most recently served as vice president, consumer electronics business development for AnySource Media. They are an enabler of next-generation content on traditional CE devices. AnySource Media was acquired by DivX, Inc. earlier this year.

With ActiveVideo Networks, Choy will be responsible for driving partnerships between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and ActiveVideo’s CloudTV platform. It will significantly expand the reach and availability of rich, Web-based user experiences that are redefining connected TV and Blu-ray players.

Currently in 5 million homes, ActiveVideo® anticipates growth to more than 20 million cable, IPTV and Web-connected homes by year end, 2010.

TV 2.0 – The Future of the Set-Top Box

Set-top boxes will grab the central role in media distribution within the home, and service providers’ digitalTV (DTV) strategies will drive the design of and demand for set-top boxes. Over the course of the next two years, competition in the TV service market will heat up substantially, ignited by the global digital transition and new video distribution channels like DTT, IPTV, and over-the-top video services. The battle in the DTV field will spread to the entire digital home services market, as incumbents and newcomers alike will market service packages to households, using video as the anchor for an expansive bundling strategy. Operators will increasingly leverage the set-top box as a platform to promote these multiplay strategies, and the device will also play a role as a home media server connecting multiple entertainment platforms.

http://www.parksassociates.com/events/connections/2010/about/research.html

Learn more about what happened at 2009 CONNECTIONS: The Digital Living Conference & Showcase.

France Telecom Keynote at CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit to focus on service opportunities in connected devices

Executive Summit features the Roadmap for Connected CE

Parks Associates announced that Pierre François Dubois, Vice President, Very High Broadband and Digital Home Products, Technocentre, France Telecom Group, will present the keynote at CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit on November 4.

Mr. Dubois will discuss the key role of telcos in shaping the future of the Digital Home. He will focus on the new opportunities for Internet service providers developing as a result of the increasing number of connected devices at home.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit, titled The Roadmap for Connected Consumer Electronics and hosted by international research firm Parks Associates, will take place in Amsterdam at the Mövenpick Hotel.

Europe is a strong market for connected CE, and service providers continue to be active in enabling advanced services and deploying devices such as hybrid set-tops. The worldwide telco /IPTV subscriber base exceeded 20 million in 2008, and France had over 27% growth in IPTV subscribers. France Telecom has been aggressive in connecting and managing consumer services, and Mr. Dubois’s insight will be invaluable to CONNECTIONS™ Europe attendees.

Summit Speakers
ActiveVideo Europe
Affinegy
Civolution
Eyecon Technologies
Intamac Technologies
Irdeto
Loquendo
Makewave
NDS
NXP Semiconductors
Omnifone
OpenTV
OSGi Alliance
Parks Associates
RedMere
Rovi Corporation
Telcordia
Thinking Screen Media
Thomson
TVBLOB
Verimatrix

Register for CONNECTIONS™ Europe at www.connectionseurope.com.

World’s First End-to-End TV Solution with 3D User Interface Ready for Deployment on IP-Hybrid Networks

The world’s first end-to-end, 3D TV solution is the result of a partnership between Orca Interactive, SoftAtHome and Viaccess to develop a unique, end-to-end 3D TV experience for the digital home. It enables service providers to accelerate time to market to deliver a new TV offering with a 3D HD user interface on broadcast, IPTV or hybrid networks (DVB-S/C/T+IP).

The user interface is one of the key battlefields for service providers to maximize customer retention and increase VOD and services revenues. In order to help service providers meet this challenge, the partners set out to bring to market the first, fully integrated and ready-to-deploy TV solution for the next generation TV user experience. This unique end-to-end solution blends the core IPTV components: Orca’s service delivery platform including the COMPASS groundbreaking content discovery solution; premium set-top-box from Pace; SoftAtHome’s operating platform; and card and cardless conditional access from Viaccess.

In addition to the 3D HD user interface, the solution gives Service Providers a complete solution to quickly deploy live TV, VoD, PVR, personalization and DLNA content sharing functionality with optimal performance and content protection. It leverages the standard Open Graphics Libraries API combined with hardware accelerators to deliver high performance HD 3D experience. The solution is on display at IBC on the booths of different partners: Orca Interactive (2.B40), Pace (1.B19), SoftAtHome (Hotel Okura Amsterdam), Viaccess (1.A51), Broadcom (5.A10), Bluestreak Technology (IP 613) and httv (1.C93).

Verimatrix and Envivio Extend Adaptive Rate Streaming Beyond the iPhone

Verimatrix, setting the standard in content security technologies that enhance the value of pay-TV networks, and Envivio, Inc. announced a collaborative solution that enables pay-TV operators to use Apple's HTTP adaptive bitrate streaming technology for the iPhone to deliver IPTV and over the top (OTT) content that scales effectively across mobile devices, PCs and other client types. The solution pairs Envivio's 4Caster C4 three screens encoder/transcoder with the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) to create a unified headend that delivers protected standard (SD) and high definition (HD) content over unmanaged networks to any Internet-connected consumer playback device.

Introduced as a component of Apple OS 3.0 for the iPhone, adaptive bitrate streaming delivers smooth audio and video streams using Internet-standard HTTP protocols. The technology supports automatic adaptation to available network types and automatically switches to the optimal bitrate for a smooth quality playback experience. Envivio 4Caster C4 enables its deployment by ingesting analog or digital sources and then encoding and encrypting the content for delivery at multiple bitrates to multiple devices. In this solution, the 4Caster C4 is integrated with Verimatrix VCAS, which provides for key management, user authentication and unified right managements. The combination enables pay-TV operators to create unique service offerings for multi-screen delivery. Furthermore, live and video-on-demand (VOD) content can be delivered using the same protocols with easy incorporation of targeted advertising segments.

For the full press release, click here.